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People’s Republic of China on Sep- such as Material Science and Defense
tember 10. “The measures taken by Engineering. “It is unfair because my
the U.S. government blatantly harm major is computer science and it is not
the legitimate rights and interests of sensitive,” he adds.
Chinese students in the U.S., which He hopes the U.S. will change its
are outright political persecution and visa policy after the election. “I con-
racial discrimination and seriously vi- sidered studying in other countries if
olate the human rights of these Chi- nothing changes next year,” Yang says.
nese students,” Zhao said. China has been the biggest mar-
Jay Yang* was another student kets for the U.S. universities. Ac-
affected by the presidential procla- cording to the Student and Exchange
mation. Yang received an email in- Visitor Program (SEVP) 2019 SEVIS
forming that his visa application was by the Numbers Report, an anual re-
rejected by U.S. embassy in Bern, port on nonimmigrant student trends
Switzerland on August 31, 2020. “It released by U.S. Immigration and
was not surprising. But I still felt up- Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Sep-
set when I knew the result,” Yang says. tember 2020, 4.7 million Chinese stu-
He graduated from Harbin Institute of dents entered the U.S. in 2019 with a
Technology, one of the universities on F-1 visa, which is required for those
the sanction list, in 2017. studying in the U.S. as a temporary Refusal letter from U. S. embassy that
Refusal letter from U
. S. embassy that
Yang graduated from a university and non-immigrant visa-holders or a J a y Y ang recieved in Bern, Swi tzerland. Netizens talking about the U.S. revoking
.S. rev
oking
t the U
Netizens talking abou
Jay Yang recieved in Bern, Switzerland.
m.
t visa o
China studen
oru
n a f
in Switzerland with a master degree M-1 visa, which is required for those (Photo courtesy of Jay Yang) China student visa on a forum.
ou
rtesy o
(
Photo c
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ang)
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this year. He refused to reveal the studying in the U.S. as a vocation-
name of the university. Yang was ad- al, non-academic school. The report the top destination in the past few tries escalate. Several universities in for universities in the U.K. increased
mitted to a P.H.D program in Com- of ICE also reveals that the number years because of the high quality of the the U.S. have reported drops of 20 per by 23 per cent year on year as of June
puter Science in the University of dropped by 4,235 compared with U.S. education. Also, many Chinese cent or more in the number of new 30, 2020. Other countries such as Ja-
Chicago in February and now he is 2018. students hoped to stay and live there admission from China this fall. At pan, Korea and Singapore, are also
attending classes online. “I planned to Daxue Consulting, a market re- after graduation in order to enjoy the the Bentley University in Massachu- gaining popularity among Chinese

study in the U.S. when I was an un- search and management consulting lifestyle of a developed country. setts, the number of new Chinese stu- students as the destination for higher
dergraduate,” Yang says. He thinks his firm focusing on Chinese market, Yet according to English Learning, dents arriving for graduate level work education.
visa application should not be reject- published a report titled “Education a multimedia news platform widely dropped from 110 last autumn to 70 Sam Qi*, who graduated from the
ed since the U.S. stated that the sanc- elsewhere: China seeks out exchanges known as EL, American universities this fall. As a result, officials from Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) “
tion only targets ‘sensitive subjects’, in other countries” on June 23, 2020. are starting to see steep declines as po- Bentley University are wondering in 2018 used to dream of going to the
which are linked to national security The report found the U.S. remained litical tension between the two coun- whether all of its graduate programs U.S. for higher education in the field I will be thrilled if
can survive. of civil engineering. But since the HIT
Ya Waning, manager of an agency is one of universities on the sanction I can get the visa
based in Beijing, has helped students list, he thinks his visa application will
“ studying overseas to apply visa for not be successful. for studying in the
I considered study- more than 15 years. Ya realises gradu- Qi has applied for other univer- U. S., and I am still
ates from universities on the sanction sities in the U.K. and Canada as his
ing in other coun- list cannot obtain study visa. “It is just backup plan. “I’ll be thrilled if I can praying for it.
a waste of time to apply for American get the visa for studying in the U.S.,
tries if nothing universities unless Biden wins the and I’m still praying for it,” Qi says.
election and changes the visa policy,”
changes next year. he says. *Names changed at interviewees’ ”
Given the situation, many Chinese request
students have changed their study
plans. A report investigating under-
” graduate program application in the
U.K. in 2020 by Universities and Col-
leges Admissions Service shows the
Edited by Emilie Lui
n posted o
n the o
o
Proclamation posted on the official website of Whitehouse. number of Chinese students applying Edited by Emilie Lui
Proclamati
tehou
se.
f Whi
fficial websi
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