In the context of increasingly globalized educational and professional environments, understanding and promoting the cross-cultural adaptation (CCA) of international students has become a critical issue in both research and practice. This study investigates the structural relationships between individual competency factors such as cultural intelligence (CI), emotional intelligence (EI), and language proficiency (LP) and cross-cultural adaptation (CCA), with psychological adaptation (PA) serving as a central mediating variable. Drawing on Acculturation Cycle Theory and Social Learning Theory, a model was developed and tested using PLS SEM among international student populations. The results indicate that CI, LP, and EI significantly enhance PA, which in turn positively influences CCA, confirming the partial mediating role of PA. Among these predictors, CI was identified as the strongest factor influencing both PA and CCA. The model explained 44.3% of the variance in PA and 46.6% of the variance in CCA, demonstrating moderate explanatory power. These findings underscore the importance of psychological resilience alongside individual competencies in achieving successful cross-cultural adjustment and suggest that training programs should prioritize the development of cultural intelligence and provide systematic psychological support to improve international students’ adaptation outcomes...