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Trump’s limits on international visas unnerve Chinese students in US

  • A suspension of foreign work visa programmes and a new bar on foreign students at schools with online classes are just the latest restrictions
  • ‘My sense of crisis has been building for a while,’ one recent graduate says

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A nearly deserted Widener Library at Harvard University last month. Recent actions by the Trump administration have shaken Chinese students in the US, who now find their plans to study and work in the country disrupted. Photo: AP
When US President Donald Trump suspended foreign work visa programmes through the end of the year, he rattled a wide swathe of the Chinese community in America, with many regarding the move as a harbinger of more drastic measures to come.
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Trump’s executive order last month doesn’t affect those now in the United States – but those with visas worry they will one day be deprived of their legal status. And Chinese students in the country – nearly 370,000 – face new uncertainty about their academics and future employment.

They were right to worry. A new measure announced by the US government on Monday – potentially expelling international students if their schools, which are trying to restart in the middle of a pandemic, shift to online classes – shows how vulnerable they are.

“I know whatever [Trump] does is going to be detrimental,” says Darren Li, 26, a recent graduate who now works as a tax consultant in San Francisco. “My sense of crisis has been building for a while.”

US President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending foreign work visa programmes through the end of the year has rattled the Chinese community in America. Photo: AP
US President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending foreign work visa programmes through the end of the year has rattled the Chinese community in America. Photo: AP
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Li, who is from Guangzhou, is not directly affected by Trump’s newest policies but, like many others, he senses a looming threat.

He is on the third and final year of his “optional practical training” (OPT) status – an extension of his student visa – and is waiting for US immigration authorities to approve his application for an H-1B visa. That would allow him to work in the US for up to six years.

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