US to start revoking Chinese student visas, escalating crackdown

[WASHINGTON] The US plans to start revoking visas for Chinese students, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, escalating the Trump administration’s push for greater scrutiny of foreigners attending American universities.

Rubio said in a statement that students affected would include “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.” The US will also enhance scrutiny “of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong,” he added.

China had the second most students in the US of any country in 2024, behind India.

The move came a day after Rubio ordered US embassies worldwide to stop scheduling interviews for student visas as the administration weighs stricter vetting of applicants’ social-media profiles. It marks yet another effort by President Donald Trump’s push to restrict foreign students’ entry to American schools over claims that they might threaten US national security. 

The White House has waged a high-stakes battle with universities that initially focused on elite universities such as Harvard and Columbia over antisemitism. That has turned into a bigger attack over the role of US higher education and the foreign students whose tuition is a crucial source of income for schools around the country.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump said Harvard should cap foreign student enrollment at 15 per cent, escalating his campaign to force policy changes at the elite institution,

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International students accounted for 5.9 per cent of the total US higher education population of almost 19 million. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 1.1 million foreign students came to the US, with India and China accounting for about half, according to the Institute of International Education.

The number of Chinese students has declined in the US – it fell 4 per cent to about 277,000 students in 2024 – amid increased tension between the two adversaries. The FBI has warned that China has sought to exploit “America’s deeply held and vital culture of collaboration and openness on university campuses.”

The State Department is also clamping down more on foreigners seeking to come to the US more broadly as part of Trump’s crackdown on immigration. Earlier Wednesday, Rubio announced visa restrictions on foreign officials and other individuals who “censor Americans,” including those who target American technology companies. BLOOMBERG