US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday the US will start ‘aggressively’ revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
If applied to a broad segment of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese university students in the US, the move could disrupt a major source of income for American schools and a crucial pipeline of talent for US technology companies.
President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of wide-ranging efforts to fulfil its hardline 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 US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” he said.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing yesterday condemned the move and said it had lodged protests with Washington, while Chinese students with offers from US universities expressed despair at the crackdown.
The Chinese foreign ministry previously vowed to “firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests” of its students overseas.
International students – India and China together accounting for 54 per cent of them – contributed more than $50 billion to the US economy in 2023, according to the US Department of Commerce.
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