Trump Administration Reportedly Considers Banning Chinese Student Visas For Good

Previously, the Typical Student team told US Limiting Visas for International Chinese STEM Students: Will You Be Affected? And, the US visas for Chinese students are still in question. The new details have recently emerged and it looks like the Trump Administration is pretty serious about completely banning Chinese students from entry.

China Is The Biggest Source of International Students in US

Source: Institute of International Education

According to the Financial Times statistic, in 2016-2017 school year, China was the biggest source of international students for the US! Over 350,000 Chinese  students were enrolled at American colleges and universities. In comparison, there were only 186,000 students from India studying in US that same school year!

Are Espionage Scandals To Blame?

Source: BusinessInsider

The changes in VISA policies are reportedly caused by a number of espionage scandals that happened this year. Earlier this year, Liu Ruopeng, known as ‘Chinese Elon Musk’ was accused of ‘Invisibility Technology’ theft from one of US universities. The Confucius Institutes in the USA are seen as a security menace. Stephen Miller, a White House aide responsible for Trump administration’s immigration policies, proposed “to make it impossible for Chinese citizens to study in the US.”

While a heated debate is still going on in the White House, one of the unnamed Chinese officials commented on the proposal. He said it was “ridiculous” and would be “very short-sighted”, given that Chinese students had contributed $18B to local economies in 2017. The official further commented:

“To politicise the normal exchange of students and shut the door for exchanges and co-operation goes against the trend of globalisation. It stands little chance of hurting China without hurting the US.”