Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on May 28 that the United States would begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio wrote on social media platform X.
The State Department confirmed the action in a short statement, saying that it will work with the Department of Homeland Security to “aggressively revoke” the visas. It will also revise the visa criteria and “enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications” from China and Hong Kong.
The Epoch Times reached out to the State Department for further comment on the matter.
According to the State Department, the Chinese regime monitors Chinese students, mobilizing them through the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA). Some CSSA branches in the United States have openly admitted that they are directed, supported, or financed by Chinese consulates. These students have been known to attempt forced cancellation of events or speeches hosted by overseas dissident groups at U.S. schools.
The FBI warns on its website that the CCP uses its post-graduate students and post-doctorate researchers in fields such as engineering, science, and mathematics to “operate as non-traditional collectors of intellectual property.”
“China is the world’s principal infringer of intellectual property,” the FBI states. “The annual cost to the U.S. economy of counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets is between $225 billion and $600 billion.”
Rubio’s announcement comes two months after House Republicans raised the issue of Chinese student visas on March 14.
Introduced, in part, by Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.), the “Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act of 2025,” or “Stop CCP VISAs Act of 2025,” would ban Chinese citizens from obtaining student visas, citing CCP-related national security concerns.
“Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas. We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security,” Moore said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Addison McDowell (R-N.C.), Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Burgess Owens (R-Utah), and Mary Miller (R-Ill.)
“The Chinese Communist Party is fundamentally opposed to our American values, and yet we have handed out hundreds of thousands of student visas to Chinese nationals, many of whom are state-sponsored spies,” Gill said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
Recent Cases
Some Chinese nationals who have gained access to the United States under student visas have also been at the center of legal matters concerning national security.
In 2020, Ye Yanqin, a lieutenant in the People’s Liberation Army, who attended Boston University from October 2017 to April 2019 on an exchange program, was charged by federal prosecutors with allegedly concealing her continued military service on her visa application. She allegedly completed “numerous assignments” for the Chinese military, including sending U.S. documents to China and retrieving U.S. military intelligence.
In October 2024, five Chinese nationals who were students at the University of Michigan as part of a joint program with the China-based Shanghai Jiao Tong University were indicted after being accused of misleading investigators about their trip to a remote military site in-state and conspiring to delete photo evidence from their cellphones.
In December 2024, Wen Shenghua, a Chinese national, was arrested in California for allegedly making military shipments to North Korea. Shengua had also overstayed his student visa.
More Visa Changes
The news also comes one day after a senior State Department official confirmed to The Epoch Times that an internal cable was sent to U.S. embassies around the world, pausing student visa interviews effective May 27.
That suspension, according to the cable, which prohibits consular sections from adding any appointment slots for student and exchange visitor visas “until further guidance is issued,” was part of an effort to strengthen the vetting process of visa applicants, specifically regarding social media screenings.
“There is no right to a student visa,” Rubio told reporters in March. “We can cancel a student visa under the law just the same way that we can deny a student visa under the law. And we will do so in cases we find appropriate.”
This announcement also comes hours after Rubio announced new visa restrictions for foreign nationals found to be involved with censoring the free speech of U.S. citizens.
“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,” Rubio wrote in a post on X.
“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life—a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.”
Ryan Morgan, Emel Aken, Frank Fang, and Eva Fu contributed to this report.
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