 This includes visas issued to people who are in an existing program of study and whose visa has expired, therefore it exceeds the actual number of distinct students admitted every year.On the other hand, since many students get multi-year, multi-entry visas, and a new visa needs to be issued only when the person travels outside the United States, this number is less than the total number of students in that status currently present in the United States.In other words, it is somewhere intermediate between the annual flow and total stock of students in F status.