US-China Tensions Impact Visa Issuance For Chinese Students

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The South China Morning Post reported on April 17 that some Chinese parents who had planned to send their children to the US for education had changed their minds after learning that the US had revoked the visas of hundreds of international students.

Citing a Shanghai-based study-abroad agent, the SCMP said some parents wanted their children to switch from Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum to International Baccalaureate (IB) or A-level. The AP curriculum is for applying to American universities, while the IB and A-level are for universities in Europe and the United Kingdom.

On April 11, four Chinese students filed a lawsuit in California after the US government revoked the visas of at least 529 students, faculty members and researchers from 88 American universities.

Clay Zhu, an attorney and managing partner at DeHeng Law Offices' Silicon Valley office who represents the plaintiffs, said 36 international students from 30 universities across the US had submitted written declarations to a local court over the weekend of April 12-13.

Zhu said 31 are from the Chinese mainland, one from Taiwan, three from Iran and one from India. He added that the lawsuit is intended to protect the rights of all affected international students. A judge will issue a decision within a few days.

Trump's executive order

On October 7, 2023, Hamas, a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political group, carried out a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages. Israel launched a military action in the Gaza Strip, causing the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of Palestinian people.

Last year, many pro-Palestine students held protests on dozens of university campuses in the US.

On January 29, Trump signed an Executive Order to combat anti-semitism. He said his 2019 Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism found that students faced anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on university and college campuses. He said that after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, Jewish students in the US have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination and harassment.

On March 27, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US had revoked the visas of at least 300 foreign students.

“If you say you're coming not just to study but to participate in movements that vandalize universities, harass students, take over buildings and cause chaos, we're not giving you that visa,” said Rubio.

On many occasions since October 2023, Beijing officials have criticized Israel's military action in Gaza and reaffirmed China's support for a Palestinian state.

Many Chinese students in the US echoed Beijing's stance by posting pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas messages on their social media accounts and joining protests on campuses, but many of them now feel regret.

On April 9, China's Ministry of Education released an overseas study alert urging Chinese students to assess security risks and raise their awareness of precautions if they consider studying in certain US states. On the same day, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said tourists should fully assess the risks of travelling to the US.

Both warnings can be seen in the context of China's retaliatory measures against the Trump administration's 145% tariff on all Chinese goods.

Other concerns

In 2024, there were about 1.1 million international students in the US. In the academic year 2023/24, the number of Chinese students in the US was 277,398, 4.2% down from 289,526 in 2022/23 or 25.5% down from the historical peak of 372,532 in 2019/2020, according to Statista.

US Congressman Riley Moore on March 14 introduced the Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act (Stop CCP VISAs Act), saying that Chinese students have been caught in several cases spying on the US military or stealing advanced technology from American companies.