Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Will an international Asian student have a harder time getting admitted than lets say an international black student? Or does race not matter in international applicants to PhD programs?

It depends on each university and your field.
From what I observe, it seems that Caltech and Princeton condensed matter areas do not care about having too many asians.
Meanwhile, some other places do wish to have more visible diversity. In a pure meritocracy-based rule, Asians already are the majority in grad students pool, hence admitting white, hispanic, or black students will be preferable in this regard.

To add to Nishitaka's statement: based on the current political atmosphere in the United States with the racial protests, many schools and businesses are reexamining their policies for diversity and inclusion. I anticipate, for better or for worse, that quite a few universities will implement stronger affirmative action programs. California, for example, has a law prohibiting public universities from using affirmative action policies in their admissions, but it will likely come under fire (again) in the coming months. The general result of these programs will be that admissions will probably be more difficult for domestic Asian students and possibly more difficult for international Asian students.