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Perhaps it comes up at dinner: after the degree, your child wants to work in Germany, and maybe stay. Pride and worry are both normal. The useful move is to turn that moment into a plan you test together, with questions for your child and honest planning for yourself.
How many Indian students study abroad?
A lot. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on 4 December 2025, the Ministry of External Affairs said over 18.82 lakh Indian students were studying in 153 countries, as reported by IANS. Canada (4.27 lakh), the US (2.55 lakh) and the UAE (2.53 lakh) topped the list in the same reply. The figures count students, not how many plan to stay on.
The same reply listed why some students were deported: illegal work, unpermitted business activity, not keeping the required bank balance, unpaid fees, poor attendance and dropping out. Each of these is a problem families can plan for.
What questions should parents ask a child who wants to work abroad?
Ask to understand, not to win. Your child should be able to answer most of these before anyone books a flight.
The why: What draws you there: the work, the pay, the lifestyle, or getting away from something here? Would a good job in India give you the same thing?
The work: Which job or field, and what does someone in that role earn and spend there? Have you spoken to anyone doing it now?
The route: Which visa lets you study, then work, then stay? What are the rules on working hours while you study?
The money: Who pays, and how much is a loan? What does a bad month look like, and who covers it?
The fallback: If the job does not come through within a set time, what happens next? Coming home should be a plan, not a failure.
Us: How often will we talk? Who comes home for festivals, and who visits whom?
How do you check that a job offer abroad is genuine?
An advisory from the Embassy of India in Bern, issued in December 2023, warns that unregistered agents make fake job offers and overcharge Rs 2-5 lakh. It says a genuine offer comes with an employment contract signed by the foreign employer, the recruiting agent and the worker.
Check that any recruiting agent is licensed: the same advisory says to look it up on eMigrate under "List of active RA".
Under the Emigration Act 1983, the advisory says a registered agent may charge no more than Rs 30,000 plus 18% GST, with a receipt.
Be wary of offers that arrive only on WhatsApp or social media, or that ask for money before any contract.
Once abroad, your child can register on the MEA's MADAD student registration portal, which the ministry says lets it contact students in an emergency and handle grievances.
How should parents plan for their own side?
A plan for your child abroad is also a plan for you at home. India is ageing: the UNFPA India Ageing Report 2023, as reported by Scroll, projects that people aged 60 and over will rise from 10.5% of the population in 2022 to 20.8% in 2050. The same report found that about one-fifth of older Indians live alone or only with a spouse.
Talk through these now, while everyone is well:
Health: Do you have health insurance that will still cover you in ten years? Who takes you to appointments?
A local person: Which relative, neighbour or friend can be there within an hour?
Paperwork: Where are property papers, bank nominations and passwords kept, and who else knows?
Visits: What is a realistic travel budget each year, and which way?
If your child later takes another country's citizenship, know what changes. The Embassy of India in the UAE explains that an OCI card gives a multiple-entry lifelong visa for visiting India, but its holder is a foreign national, not an Indian citizen, and cannot vote here.
What can you say in the first conversation?
Here is a short script you can adapt.
Open: "I'm proud you're thinking this far ahead. I want to understand the plan properly."
Ask: "Walk me through the first two years. Where do you live, what do you do, and how is it paid for?"
Share: "My worry is what happens if the job falls through. Can we find out together?"
Agree: "Let's each make a list. You find the visa and salary facts; I'll look at what we need at home. We'll talk again in two weeks."
Then write the plan in two columns: their side (course, visa, job, money, fallback) and yours (health, local support, paperwork, visits). Revisit it each term.
If your child is still studying and unsure where to start, Fermi's AI tutor works out what a student already knows and builds a plan for the session, so study time goes to the gaps.
If these talks bring on stress that does not ease for you or your child, call the government's free Tele MANAS helpline on 14416.
