Sanjay Laul, Founder of MSM Unify
Indian students’ plans of studying abroad are changing going into 2026. Stricter visas, rising costs, and changing rules are forcing students to adjust their choices of where they apply, how long they stay, and what they expect from a foreign degree.
A Changing Map
The US, Canada, and the UK still host many Indian students, although choices are starting to change. Indians are now the largest international group in Germany, with about 49,500 students in 2023–24, and other European countries and Gulf hubs like the UAE are also gaining because they are closer, offer work options, and keep overall costs lower.
Policy Shocks Redefine the Big Hosts
The past half decade has also brought a turn from expansion to management in several traditional destinations. Canada has capped new study permits for a second year, limiting 2025 approvals to 437,000 and linking future volumes to a goal of reducing temporary residents to less than 5 percent of the population.
The government has also tightened post-graduation work rights and narrowed access to open work permits for spouses, with direct consequences for Indian families that had planned for study-to-work-to-residency pathways.
In the UK, concerns about migration has led to a review of the Graduate Route. The Migration Advisory Committee found no major abuse and advised keeping it. Universities welcomed the decision and Indian applicants, who rely on this route in large numbers, are watching it closely.
Separately, new rules have restricted dependants for most taught students, reshaping expectations for married applicants and young families.
Australia has replaced its Genuine Temporary Entrant test with a Genuine Student requirement and raised English and financial thresholds, while experimenting with caps and planning levels for international education that link enrollments to housing and local capacity.
In the United States, Indian enrollment has reached record levels, yet debates over work rights under the Optional Practical Training program and proposals such as the OPT Fair Tax Act have introduced uncertainty around the net value of a US degree for foreign graduates.
Cost, Careers and the New Return-On-Investment Lens
As policies tightened, currency pressures and higher living costs have pushed Indian students and parents to examine return on investment more carefully. Indian media and sector surveys report says that the cost of living, the stability of work rights and clear routes to skilled employment now rank ahead of pure brand appeal for many families.
This has widened the field of destinations. European countries that combine modest or zero tuition with post-study work options, such as Germany and some Nordic states, feature more frequently in shortlists. Gulf and Asian hubs that advertise industry-linked programs and regional careers are also benefiting from this recalibration.
For institutions, the shift means that Indian applicants are comparing not only rankings or city images but also net costs over the full study period, likely earnings after graduation and how visa and work policies may change during a multi-year course.
2026: From Adjustment to a New Rulebook
The year 2026 is emerging as a pivot rather than just another intake cycle. Canada’s caps, Australia’s managed planning levels and the outcome of UK and US policy debates are expected to set the template for the second half of the decade.
For Indian students, agents and universities, this means that the old assumption of almost automatic growth in certain routes no longer holds. Instead, outbound planning is increasingly framed as a portfolio of options that combines established systems with newer hubs and in some cases, hybrid or online pathways that reduce time overseas.
Ecosystems Step in to Help Families Navigate
It is within this intricate framework that a considerable number of platforms supported by technology and partner networks are coming into being and are seeking to offer organized information and assistance. A Canadian company, Laul Global, which is into education and technology holding, includes its portfolio of brands in an impact investing strategy that connects skills, employability, and education financing across different places and countries as its investment strategy.
The year 2026 is nearing, and stricter regulations plus the support systems are characterizing a more controlled, data-savvy period of Indian student migration with a focus on the winners and the losers in the long term; thus, greatly more learner and host country stakeholders are involved.