BEIJING: The US Embassy and consulates in China resumed visa appointments for students earlier this month, but restrictions on those with high-tech backgrounds remain in place. Such restrictions are even extended to students whose parents work in the security, immigration and anti-graft government departments, the Global Times has found.
A letter provided by Gewai Education, a Beijing-based agency providing consultation services for students applying to US schools, to the Global Times on Monday shows the US Consular Officer informed a student of his visa refusal. Visas for senior Chinese officials employed by four intelligence and law enforcement departments, as well as their spouses and children, have been suspended.
Applications by Chinese nationals for certain types of visas were suspended for officials ranked deputy director and above. This provision covers employees of China’s National Immigration Administration, and their spouses and children under 21; officials at the National Supervisory Commission (the top anti-graft watchdog); the Ministry of State Security (China’s top security organ), and the Ministry of Public Security (China’s top law enforcement agency) and their spouses and children under 30, it said. “The student was denied because his family is involved in state public security work,” Qiao Xiangdong, owner of Gewai Education, told the Global Times on Monday.
Bai Limin, an expert in charge of undergraduate program applications in ZMN International Education, a Beijing-based educational consulting agency, confirmed to the Global Times the upgraded restrictions.
“The application of one student in our agency, whose father works at the exit and entry management office, has been checked by visa officers for a long time. He has an offer from a leading university,” Bai said.
Since the US Embassy and consulates in China resumed accepting student visa applications on May 4, it’s been hard for students to obtain visa interviews.
The Global Times found the earliest available date for visa interviews in Beijing and Shanghai was June 1, while in Shenyang and Guangzhou it was May 20. No available dates were shown for postgraduate and PhD students’ interviews at the consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou.
According to Qiao, some students planning undergraduate studies in the US have obtained visas, but none of those pursuing postgraduate studies have received visas.
– The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
