On Thursday morning, only hours after Washington declared it would “aggressively” cancel Chinese students’ visas, Xiao Chen showed up to the US Consulate in Shanghai. In the autumn, the 22-year-old was going to Michigan to study communications, so she had a visa appointment.
She was informed that her application had been denied following a “pleasant” chat. No explanation was offered to her. I feel like a drifting duckweed tossed in wind and storm,” she remarked, utilising a popular Chinese phrase that expresses a sense of helplessness and uncertainty.
Since she already received the acceptance letter, she had been optimistic. And in the last several days, she believed she had barely avoided the bombshells.
First, the administration of Donald Trump attempted to stop Harvard University from accepting overseas students, but a court order later stopped the action. Then it announced that all international students’ visa appointments had been halted.
Chen, however, is now prepared for plan B. “If I can’t finally obtain the visa, I’ll most likely take a gap year. After that, I’ll watch to see whether things improve next year. She continues that the possibility of students being “stopped at the airport and deported” makes a legal visa insufficient.
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