U.S. to revoke visas for Chinese students
New Trump policy could disrupt major source of income for universities
By: Costa Pietas
Michael Martina
and Jasper ward
Reuters
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Marico Rubio announced May 29 [2025] that the United States will start "aggressively" revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
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If applied to a broad segment of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese university students in the United States, the m,over could disrupt a major source if income for American schools and a crucial pipeline of talent for technology companies in the United States.
..... The Trump administration has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of wide-ranging efforts to fulfill its hard-line immigration agenda.
..... In a statement, Rubio said the State Department will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from china and Hong Kong.
..... "The U.S. State Department will work with the department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visa for Chinese students," he said.
..... China's foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing on May 29 [2025] condemned the move and said it had lodged protests with Washington, while Chinese students with offers form U.S. universities expressed despair at the crackdown.
..... The Chinese foreign ministry previously vowed to "firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests" of its students overseas, following the Trump administration's move to revoke Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign subnets, many of whom are Chinese.
..... China is also at the epicenter of Trump's global trade war that has roiled finical markets, upended supply chains and fueled risks of a sharp worldwide economic downturn. The decision to cancel Chinese students visas comes despite a recent pause in the U.S.-China trade dispute.
..... International students - India and China together accounting for 54% of them - contributed more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023, according to the Commerce Department.
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The State Department has broad authority to issue and revoke visas. The administration cited Harvard University's ties to China as among several reasons students, a move temporarily blocked by a U.S. judge.
..... Rubio's statement did not offer details on how extensively the visa revocations would be applied. Even a relatively small number could disrupt the flow of Chinese students seeking out higher education in the U.S. that began in the late 1970s from China.
..... Recent decades saw the United Stets become the destination of choice for many Chinese students looking for an alternative to China's intensely competitive university system and drawn to the strong reputation of U.S. schools. Those students typically come for wealthier families able to afford the high cost of U.S. universities.
..... Many of those have stayed after graduating and have been credited with contributing to American research capacity and the U.S. workforce.
..... The number of Chinese students in the Unites States dropped to about 277,000 in 2024, however, from a high of around 370,000 in 2019, pulled lower by growing tension between the world's two biggest economies, heightened government scurrility of Chinese students and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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As the geopolitical rivalry with China has escalated into what many analysts consider a new from of cold war, U.S. agencies and Congress have stepped up scrutiny of China's state-sponsored influence and technology transfers at American colleges and universities.
..... Washington has become increasingly concerned that Beijing uses open and federally funded search environments in the United States to circumvent export controls and other national security laws.
..... Greater scrutiny and uncertainly over visas has led more Chinese students to opt for schools in Europe, and more graduates now return to China to ply their trades.
..... Yaquiu Wang, a human rights researcher who came to the United States from China as a student, said Beijing had indeed taken advantage of U.S. academic openness to engage in espionage and intellectual property theft but called Rubio's announcement "deeply concerning."
..... "Broad revocations and blanket bans would not only jeopardize the rights and livelihoods of Chinese students studying and working in the U.S., but also risk undermining America's long-standing position as the global leader in scientific innovation," she said.
..... During President Donald Trump's first administration, then-Secretary of State mike Pompeo led a drive to rid university campuses of Chinese government-funded Confucius Institute cultural centers, saying they worked to advance China's "global propaganda and malign influence" and to recruit "spies and collaborators."
..... As a result, many institutionalist cut ties with the centers.
..... On May 27, [2025] Reuters reported the State Department had halted new appointments for all foreign student and exchange visitor visa applicants, according to an internal cable.
..... The Trump administration has expanded social media vetting of foreign students and is seeking to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of wide-ranging efforts to fulfill its hard-line immigration agenda.