Chinese students in the United States are being advised not to return home for the holidays amid uncertainty over whether it could become more difficult for them to get back into the country once Donald Trump moves into the White House. China’s Consulate General in Chicago wrote on its website that students should “try to reduce unnecessary cross-border travel.” The Chinese Embassy in Washington is also reminding students about security concerns coming into the U.S. During the president-elect’s first term, Chinese students faced tougher restrictions with 1,000 having visas revoked in 2020 over concerns that their scientific study posed security risks, according to the Wall Street Journal. Several colleges, including UPenn and Cornell University, have also highlighted the issue of holiday travel with their foreign students. Meanwhile, the number of Americans studying in China has dropped dramatically since the pandemic, from 11,000 pre-COVID to just 469 in academic-credit courses in China in the 2022-23 year, wrote the Journal.
