Indians Flying Abroad For Education Jumps To 5-Year High in 2022: Report

A surge has been observed in the number of Indians going abroad on student visas this year. Nearly 6.5 lakh students went to other countries for education in 2022, exceeding the number recorded before the pandemic, data from the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) reported The Hindu. 

The BoI, which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), maintains data on Indians going abroad based on passengers' verbal disclosure or the type of visa of the destination country they produced at the time of immigration clearance.

According to the data, 6,48,678 students flew abroad on student visas until November 30, reaching a five-year high.

However, the statistics revealed that international travel among Indians remained lower than the pre-pandemic level for purposes like business, employment, medical, pilgrimage, and others.

Besides student visas, the number of Indians travelling on visiting visas grew significantly in 2022, the report added.

As many as 1.83 crore Indians travelled to other countries for various purposes between January and November 30. Of this, the report said 72.49 lakh people went for residency, 30.85 lakh went on tourist visas, and 40.92 lakh obtained visiting visas to fly abroad.

Overall, the number of Indians going abroad increased by over 137% compared to 2021.   

In 2019, the total number of Indians visiting other countries stood at 2.52 crore, where 63.80 lakh travelled on tourist visas, 42.11 lakh on visiting visas, and 89.50 lakh Indians went for residence and re-entry purposes, the report added.

Countries like Canada and the UK saw more Indians travelling there in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic times.

While 6.17 lakh Indians flew to Canada in 2019, the number grew to 6.60 lakh in the first 11 months of this year.

The report stated that the UK's number of travellers from India went from 7.45 lakh in 2019 to 7.54 lakh in 2022.