Study Abroad: New US Rule May Push More Kids Abroad for College
The rule changes how the government calculates a child’s age for green card eligibility.
The United States quietly implements a new immigration rule that reshapes the lives of thousands of immigrant families—especially those from India. The rule changes how the government calculates a child’s age for green card eligibility. On paper, it looks like a minor technical adjustment. In practice, it means many children of long-term immigrants—particularly dependents of H-1B visa holders—‘age out’ of the process by turning 21 before their family’s green card is approved. Once that happens, they lose their dependent status and are no longer in the immigration queue for citizenship.
At first, it may feel like just another bureaucratic step. But to students and parents planning higher education, it is much bigger—it is a shift in how families look to plan their academic and career futures.
Education as the Backup Plan
For Indian families in the U.S. on temporary visas, the green card represents more than just a legal document; it means stability! A green card often determines whether their children can receive in-state tuition when applying to American public universities, significantly reducing the college affordability barrier. If they lose dependent status at age 21, their children must now be seen as international students and pay higher tuition and the smaller number of scholarships available to the, along with all the visa regulations.
This is the place where education abroad fits in—not as a luxury or something prestigious, but as a real alternative. If these families continue to question their green card status, more and more are seeing universities in Canada, Australia, or the U.K. as reliable solutions. These countries provide simpler student visa procurement and provide a higher level of residency assurance and often better value than paying international fees in the U.S.
The ‘Self-Deportation’ of Students
The term may sound harsh, but immigration experts have long described how children who age out of the US system are, in effect, pushed out of the only country they have known. Once that happens, they have dropped their dependent status not to be part of the immigration queue.
At first, it might seem like just another bureaucratic hurdle.
For such families, sending children abroad for higher education is less about choice and more about survival. Applications, transcripts, financial planning, and even career strategies are being prepared years in advance as a hedge against the green card backlog. It’s not just about academics anymore—it’s about securing continuity and stability in a child’s future.
A New Global Student Profile
This policy shift may have a more subtle influence on changing international student populations around the world, also. These will not be the types of foreign applicants that most often are associated with international admissions. Rather, they are people who have grown up in America, graduated with a US high school diploma, speak English fluently, and are already acquainted with Western academic culture. As such, their adaptation to foreign universities will often be quite rapid and require far less adjustment than those we might consider international students.
Institutions and systems elsewhere in the world (Canada, the UK, Europe, and Asia) are already seeing this phenomenon happening with newly branded American 'international students'. For institutions outside of the US, the ‘Americanised international student’ is typically a new combination of academic development with cultural diversity. The ‘Americanised international students’ enjoy not only their diverse experiences but also enrich their collective classroom experience and contribute to the global learning atmosphere.
The upcoming shift in policy, expected to take place in August of 2025, will not just change educational administrators; it will ripple through education systems. As families weigh alternatives to earn their children their degree rather than rely on the lengthy wait for their American green card, more families will obtain offers of admission abroad, and they will establish institutional continuity in their education, financial sustainability, and future opportunities for their children.
In short, education abroad is becoming less of a choice and more of a necessity for many immigrant families. The ripples of this shift will reverberate around the world as universities welcome a new generation of globally ready students who are expected to reside in America at a future date.
Ultimately, the new rule affirms what many immigrant families have already understood—education abroad is no longer merely a dream.
It has become an insurance policy against the uncertainties of America’s immigration system. And as the US tightens its definitions, global campuses are poised to welcome a new wave of students who once imagined their futures unfolding in America.
(This article is written by Ritika Gupta, CEO & Counsellor, AAera Consultants)
