US visas for Chinese students increase, official says; concerns remain over unfair treatment

The United States remains the top destination for Chinese students studying abroad, despite concerns among students and parents over visas and public safety, a U.S. Embassy official in Beijing said.

At the same time, Chinese students considering studying at American universities and their parents have expressed concerns about unfair treatment of Chinese students by U.S. border authorities in some cases.

Karen Gustafson, the embassy’s minister counselor for consular affairs, told China Daily on Sunday that the embassy issued 105,000 visas to Chinese students last year. “We currently host 290,000 Chinese students in the United States,” she said.

A report released by the US State Department showed that in the first half of 2023, a total of 44,762 students from the Chinese mainland were granted F-1 visas to study in the United States, an increase of 44% over the previous year.

As of the end of July, the embassy had issued more than 80,000 student visas to Chinese nationals, Gustafson said, noting the continued increase in the number of visas issued to Chinese students.

According to the Open Doors 2023 report released in November, Chinese students accounted for about 29% of the 1.05 million international students in the United States in the 2022-23 academic year, down from 33% the previous academic year.

Gustafson said that despite a downward trend, Chinese students remain the largest group of international students in the United States and are expected to “stay on top and grow.”

“We warmly welcome Chinese students to the United States and always hope to encourage more students to come,” she said, adding that the embassy is working to maximize the number of students and return to the peak before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hundreds of Chinese students and parents attended an education fair in Beijing on Sunday, seeking information on study abroad opportunities. About 100 American universities participated in the fair.

A visitor to the fair, surnamed Wang, said she hoped to address her concerns about her daughter’s continued education in the United States by seeking advice from universities and the organizer.

Wang said his daughter, a biological sciences major in Wuhan, Hubei province, is preparing to pursue graduate studies in the United States.

Given recent cases of Chinese students, especially those majoring in science and engineering at U.S. universities, being denied visas upon arrival, receiving unfair treatment from border enforcement and even facing deportation, Wang said she was concerned and hoped to get more information from authorities.

In recent years, dozens of Chinese students have reported being subjected to harassment, interrogation and unjustified repatriation because of their political or scientific research interests.

Many people have posted on social media about their “terrifying” experiences of being taken by border agents to a “small dark room” at US airports, sparking public concern.

“What matters most to me is my child’s safety and whether she can graduate smoothly from an American university,” Wang said, adding that she had heard that Chinese students applying for certain majors faced higher risks of visa rejection.

Gustafson called these cases isolated incidents and said the majority of Chinese students pursue their studies in the United States.

Although the U.S. Embassy is responsible for issuing visas, entry into the country is handled by the Department of Homeland Security, she said.

“What I can say is that the vast majority of Chinese students who go to the United States end up studying in the United States, and we really encourage them to continue on that path,” she added.

Significant damage

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in April that the implementation of the expulsion orders against Chinese students had caused significant harm to those involved and disrupted cultural and academic exchanges between China and the United States.

“Recent cases demonstrate that U.S. law enforcement is carrying out deportations for the sake of deportations, demonstrating political, discriminatory and selective enforcement of the law,” she said at a news conference.

Zhu Chenge, an adjunct researcher in U.S. diplomacy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the excessive surveillance of Chinese students by U.S. authorities may seem to affect only a small group, but it actually destroys one of the pillars of complex interactions between China and the United States.

“Normal academic exchanges between two technological powers are being disrupted. It is definitely not a positive sign if students and scholars are more concerned about their personal safety than academic issues,” Zhu said.

Wang Jialing, a 10th grade student in the international class of Beijing RCF Experimental School, has started preparing to apply to the American university.

He wanted to enroll at the University of Southern California as a finance major. He learned about the application procedures and career prospects at the education fair. He said he wanted to choose a top 50 university in the United States in a relatively safe state and planned to return to China after earning a bachelor’s degree.