A prominent Indian journalist was notified by the Trump administration this week that his student visa to pursue a master’s program in the U.S. had been denied. The prospective student, Kaushik Raj, a journalist who has reported for international and Indian publications alike, was told in his rejection letter that the U.S. government felt he did not have enough ties to his home country.

Set to study data journalism at Columbia University’s graduate journalism school, Raj was incredulous. His entire family is in India, his reporting has been on India, and he had told the American consular officer during his interview that he intended to use the skills he learned at Columbia to report data-driven stories about rural India.

“I am being punished for my journalism, for my views,” he told The Intercept.

As the fall semester kicks off at universities across the U.S., students around the world are facing similar rejections, with many more stuck in visa application purgatory. The slow-rolling of applications and denials are leaving universities bracing for an unprecedented downturn in their international student intake.

Incoming students from diverse backgrounds, with plans for pursuing varied scholarship, spoke to The Intercept about a litany of problems under the Trump administration’s new student visa processes.

Many have had their applications rejected on grounds they can’t fathom; others have been waiting weeks for a decision on their applications. Foreign students granted admission by universities can’t get slots for visa interviews even as their academic programs get underway. Wait times for “administrative processing” of visa applications have stretched from days to weeks to more than a month.

For incoming students and their families, the situation is riddled with anxieties and uncertainties.

“The Trump administration has taken myriad actions since January that make it far more difficult for international students to come to the United States, and even if they’re here, for them to complete their studies,” said Elora Mukherjee, an expert on immigration law and director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School.

She cited the revocation of student visa statuses of more than 1,000 individuals in March and April, the social media vetting policy for visa applicants, and a travel ban imposed on citizens from several countries in June. For instance, she pointed out that due to Trump’s travel ban, Afghan women would find it virtually impossible to come to the U.S. for their higher education even if they were offered a full scholarship.

As a result, the U.S. could see 150,000 fewer international student arrivals this fall, according to an analysis published by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a U.S.-based nonprofit that tracks international education. The study said that the drastic reduction in international students in the U.S. could result in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue.

While Raj believes his case was political, his story is among many examples of the Trump administration denying foreigners’ student visas as part of a wider crackdown on immigration.

“This administration has declared war on international students in a variety of ways: ranging from arresting people who’ve spoken out on behalf of Palestinians, to cracking down on universities by claiming that they bring in too many international students,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired immigration law professor at Cornell University. “Slowing down the visa process or issuing more visa denials are administrative ways of accomplishing that goal.”

Arbitrary Rejections

In early July, an international student admitted to a graduate engineering program at a highly ranked U.S. university flew 700 miles across India to attend an F-1 student visa interview. It was the second time they had made the trip, after the Trump administration postponed their earlier appointment in May at the last minute amid a global halt on U.S. visa interviews. At the end of the interview, the........

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