The Trump administration measure is frustrating Anqi Dong’s dream of studying in the US even before it begins.
Shanghai’s 30 -year -old lawyer, who enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Texas in Dallas in January, is giving up her plans, saying that bad news for foreign students seem to accumulate each day.
“Everything is very uncertain now in America,” she said. “Now I’m considering programs in Finland and Norway, which I had never thought before. These are rich and stable places.”
Chinese students have been the focus of Trump administration pressure for greater rigor in foreign analysis at American universities. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday (28) that their visas would be, even for students with connections to the Communist Party or studying in critical areas. Future applications from China and Hong Kong will also face greater scrutiny, he said.
Taking action against people linked to the Communist Party covers a broad spectrum, given the role that the party plays in the lives of Chinese and institutions, including universities. Although there are just under 100 million party members, their range is so wide that the number of people with ties can be much higher.
These measures are forcing Chinese students to seek alternatives, even if some educational consultants recommend patience if US policy changes. Zhou Huiying, founder of the consultancy Playyouweei Education Technology in Shanghai, said at least 30% of their clients have canceled plans to study in the US or are signing up for schools in Australia, UK and Singapore as Plan B. She believes this proportion can reach 50% if the Trump administration announces new restrictions.
Continues after advertising
Normally, families who choose the US for higher education focus only on American universities and rarely consider other nations, Zhou said, but now many are rethinking.
“Policies have been very volatile and have really annoyed customers,” he said. “Some families, whose parents are members of the Communist Party and work for the government, are quite concerned and now abandoning the US as an option.”
Visa restrictions have been part of a broader repression since Trump has returned to the White House. He promised to ban international students from Harvard University, intensifying his campaign to force changes in the elite institution. Earlier this week, Rubio ordered US embassies worldwide to stop foreign students.
Continues after advertising
For now, the situation is chaotic for students. While some consultants suggest looking at other countries, others recommend waiting to see, and there are divergent opinions about the scope of repression. But almost everyone agrees that the threat is greater than before, as tensions between the two countries increase in Trump’s second term.
Fangzhou Jiang, Chinese student at Harvard Kennedy School and co -founder of consulting firm Crimson Education, said he tries to maintain optimism. After receiving the news from Harvard last week, he has prepared himself mentally for the worst. With another semester in the program, he decided to keep his rental contract and not make hasty decisions. In Harvard, Jiang has been an exemplary student-serving as vice president of Kennedy School’s student government. Still, you know it needs to be cautious.
“I’m still cautious because, first, I fit both profiles, right? Chinese and Harvard,” he said. “I have big targets on my back. So I don’t want to be blindly optimistic.”
Continues after advertising
Trump has been imposed on successive obstacles to Chinese students since his first election. In 2020, its administration announced that the Confucius Institute US Center, a program funded by the Chinese government to teach Chinese language and culture in the US, should register as a “foreign mission”, subject to administrative requirements similar to those of embassies and consulates. In the same year, the visas of more than 1,000 students and Chinese researchers were revoked.
Some students keep their plans to study in the US, betting that Trump will change his way, Dennis Huang, co -founder of Dream Education, said, which offers high -end international education services.
“Most of my clients are increasingly insensitive to mutant policies and mentally prepared for possible setbacks,” he said. “It’s not Trump’s first presidential term and people have gotten used to their luscious style.”
Continues after advertising
Brian Wang, founder and CEO of Blueprint, a global admissions consulting firm in Shanghai, believes that the restrictions will be limited to a subset of students, based on “perceived political orientations” or by bonds with sensitive academic affairs. Students already in the US should “be aware of behavior, including posts on social networks,” he said.
The number of Chinese students in the US fell 4% last year to about 277,000 amid the increase in tensions between countries. Still, the Chinese remain the second largest international group, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, India and China represented about half of the 1.1 million international students in the country, according to the Institute of International Education.
Dong, Shanghai’s lawyer, does not expect to join these numbers anytime soon.
Continues after advertising
Problems with visas “affect not only school life, but also plans after graduation,” he said. “It is very likely that new rules also negatively affect employment opportunities.”
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
