US will begin revoking visas of Chinese students: Marco Rubio

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday the US will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, "including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields".

Rubio said in his announcement posted on X that the government will “aggressively” revoke visas for students from China, which is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India.

In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the United States.

On Tuesday, Rubio halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for international students as the department prepares guidelines for increased vetting of their activity on social media.

The announcements from the State Department added to the uncertainty for America's international students, who have faced intensifying scrutiny from President Donald Trump's administration.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh student Vladyslav Plyaka was planning to visit Poland to see his mother and renew his visa, but he doesn't know when that will be possible now that visa appointments are suspended.

He also doesn't feel safe leaving the US even when appointments resume.

“I don't think I have enough trust in the system at this point,” said Plyaka, who came to the US from Ukraine as an exchange student in high school and stayed for college.

The announcement came days after the Trump administration moved to block Harvard University from enrolling any international students, a decision that has been put on hold by a federal judge, pending a lawsuit.

On Wednesday, Trump said that Harvard, whose current student population is made up of more than a quarter of international students, should limit that percentage to about 15 per cent.

“I want to make sure the foreign students are people that can love our country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Earlier this year, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and tried to deport students who had been involved in campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.