Photo: Official State Department / Freddie Everett
The United States of America is imposing strict restrictions on students from China, in particular those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in areas considered strategic to US national security. This was stated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Politico reports, citing sources in the administration.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the State Department, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, will aggressively revoke Chinese students’ visas,” Rubio said.
Restrictions, he said, will also affect students from Hong Kong, and visa rules will be revised to take into account “the risk of espionage and influence from China”.
According to official data, in 2024, more than 277,000 students from China studied in the United States, the second largest group after Indian students. What else is known:
- The US government has stopped issuing new student visas for Chinese citizens.
- The House of Representatives passed a ban on state funding for US universities that cooperate with Chinese security-related research institutions.
- Experts warn that the move will hit both international students and the American higher education system, which receives more than $43 billion from foreign students annually.
In addition, President Trump recently called for limiting the share of foreign students at Harvard to 15% (from the current 27.6%) and threatened to withhold $3 billion in government funding from the university. At the same time, Harvard sued the administration over the restrictions.
