The United States has further tightened its visa policy for Chinese students, now including children under the age of 14 as subjects of regulation.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on June 10 (local time), the U.S. Embassy in China recently abolished the visa interview waiver procedure that had previously applied to children under 14.
The official U.S. visa application website announced that, starting June 10, children under the age of 14 applying for non-immigrant visas must attend an in-person interview with at least one parent. They are also required to submit various documents to verify both the child's and the parent's identities. However, the embassy explained that applications submitted before June 10 will follow the previous regulations, although an interview may still be requested.
This measure follows the U.S. announcement that it would aggressively cancel visas for Chinese students and enforce stricter visa screenings going forward. On May 28, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated, "We will aggressively cancel visas for Chinese students, including those connected to the Chinese Communist Party or those conducting research in critical fields directly related to security."
After it became known that visa regulations for children under 14 had also been strengthened, study abroad consultants in China expressed their dissatisfaction. Tracy Xiao, a study abroad consultant in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, said, "Requesting interviews for children under 14 is essentially meaningless, so it has not been done until now."
The SCMP pointed out that, due to the new interview guidelines for children under 14, some Chinese parents are now reluctant to send their children to study in the United States. Mark Wang, a resident of Beijing, said he canceled plans to send his 13-year-old son to a U.S. summer camp because of this measure, commenting, "I think this policy is a hostile gesture from the United States."
According to the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education, as of the 2023-2024 academic year, there were 277,000 Chinese students in the United States, accounting for 25% of the total international student population.
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