How a US clampdown affected mainland Chinese, Hong Kong student visa numbers

AdvertisementEducation in Hong KongHong KongEducationHow a US clampdown affected mainland Chinese, Hong Kong student visa numbersUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last May the country would take stricter approach to Chinese student visas 3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenWilliam YiuPublished: 8:30am, 6 Apr 2026A US clampdown on visas for mainland Chinese and Hong Kong students last May led to year-on-year declines of 42 per cent and 35 per cent in the number of permits granted, but a consultant has said the impact has been short-lived. One PhD student from the mainland said US President Donald Trump’s actions had led to him giving up an offer to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to enrol at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) last year after he found America’s once-vibrant academic atmosphere tarnished by geopolitics. Figures recently released by the US State Department’s Visa Office showed about 900 F-1 visas were granted to Hong Kong students for academic and language training programmes between June and August last year, which is the period when the documents are typically issued. AdvertisementThe figure marked a 35 per cent drop from the 1,395 visas issued in the same period in 2024, and the second-lowest since 2018. The lowest figure was recorded in 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic began, when only 394 F-1 visas were issued to Hong Kong students. AdvertisementThe calculation of the number of student visas is based on the sum of the number of such documents issued to Hong Kong and British National (Overseas) passport holders reported in the US Visa Office’s monthly figures. AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x