The US research community has been appalled by legislation that would block all Chinese nationals from receiving student visas. The bill’s sponsor, West Virginia Republican Riley Moore, who introduced to Congress on 14 March, said it will prevent the Chinese Communist Party from using US academic institutions as platforms for espionage. However, opponents argued that it would harm the competitiveness of US research universities and science.
In announcing the legislation, Moore noted that nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals come to the US on student visas every year. He went on to highlight several recent espionage cases, including five students at the University of Michigan who were charged with spying last year after allegedly taking photos of military equipment at a nearby military training facility, as well as the 2023 jailing of Chinese national Ji Chaoqun – a naturalised US citizen who first came to the US on a student visa – for eight years for being a Chinese agent. Last year, he was part of a prisoner swap with China that led to him and two others being sent back to China in exchange for three Americans held by China on charges of spying.
‘Congress needs to end China’s exploitation of our student visa programme,’ Moore stated. ‘It’s time we turn off the spigot and immediately ban all student visas going to Chinese nationals.’ His bill has attracted five co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and Florida Republican Ashley Moody has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
Such legislation would not have been taken seriously in the past and would have been considered impossible to pass through both chambers of Congress and signed into law. Now, there is concern that it might be possible with the Republicans in control of the Senate and the House of Representatives and Donald Trump in the White House.
‘I have been predicting this for some time,’ says Xiaoxing Xi, a Chinese–American physics professor at Temple University in Philadelphia who was arrested in 2015 and charged with spying but was later vindicated when the US government dropped its case against him. ‘It’s going to happen and it is going to help China retain talent and deprive the US of fresh talent,’ he adds, suggesting that the chance of the bill becoming law is ‘more than 50%.’
Students from China have been a key part of US pre-eminence in scientific research, explains Joanne Padrón Carney, chief government relations officer at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Analysis by Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) in October 2020 concluded that Chinese nationals comprised 16% of all graduate students in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) fields.
Across those Stem disciplines at US universities, 2020 estimates suggest there are around 46,000 Chinese undergraduates, 40,000 master’s students and 36,000 PhD students.
‘Historically, US universities have attracted the best and brightest students from all over the world,’ Carney tells Chemistry World. ‘And just because of sheer populations, countries such as China and India have always been number one in terms of the number of students that come to the US,’ she adds. ‘So, any kind of restrictions there then means that it will not be our nation that will be attracting the best and the brightest talent to come to our institutions to study and work, it will be other nations.’
Piali Sengupta, a biologist at Brandeis University, US, agrees. ‘You only have to look at the composition of faculty in Stem departments, winners of prestigious awards and society memberships and, indeed, Nobel prize winners to assess how Chinese immigrants have enriched our scientific enterprise,’ she states. ‘China is investing heavily in science and this – along with all the other restrictions on research currently – will only serve to make the US fall behind and cede our long and hard-won leadership in science to others.’
In a post on the social media platform Bluesky, Sengupta noted that she had an ‘excellent postdoc candidate from China’ but has advised him to look at labs in Europe or Asia. ‘Leaving aside the death spiral of science funding and free speech here, hard to recommend coming here on a visa right now. Tragic to lose talent,’ she wrote.
Excellent postdoc candidate from China. Advised him to look at labs in Europe or Asia. Leaving aside the death spiral of science funding and free speech here, hard to recommend coming here on a visa right now. Tragic to lose talent.
— Piali Sengupta (@senguptalab.bsky.social) March 16, 2025 at 3:10 AM
US-based organisations such as NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the Asian American Scholar Forum have also stepped up to oppose the bill. ‘Chinese students, scholars and faculty collaborate with their American counterparts to produce important research, spark innovations and foster mutual understanding, ultimately making the United States safer,’ stated Fanta Aw, the executive director and chief executive of NAFSA. ‘Given how interconnected our world is, severing educational ties with China will harm US economic competitiveness and hurt members of the Asian diaspora in this country, including American citizens.’
Update: Xiaoxing Xi’s comment was added on 19 March 2025
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