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Alyssa Chen

Late August marks the annual influx of international students to US campuses, but for many Chinese students, visa processing delays and diplomatic tensions have turned scheduled departures into open-ended delays.
They say stringent visa scrutiny and expanding background checks have left them in limbo, delaying their timely arrival in the US and forcing them to defer enrolment.
Under a provision of US immigration law known as “administrative processing” or visa checks, applicants may be asked to submit supplementary documents and undergo additional security reviews before their visas can be approved.
Social media posts and interviews with affected students indicate these extended background checks are sweeping up a wider cross-section of applicants and fields of study.
Ray Zhou, a Beijing resident admitted to a master’s degree programme in computer science, said the prolonged checks – now stretching beyond two months – had forced him to defer his enrolment until next year. Zhou, like the other students interviewed, asked not to give his full Chinese name or university because his visa was still being processed.
“My mindset experienced a drastic shift,” he said. “At first, I felt relief from avoiding an immediate refusal and thought I would simply wait it out. But as the start of the semester got closer, the anxiety became overwhelming.”
Hundreds of students across China have taken to social media to raise concerns about prolonged security checks that threaten to derail years of careful planning.
The South China Morning Post has contacted the US embassy in China and the State Department for comment.
Zhou manages a support group of more than 100 students caught in administrative processing, and he said the backgrounds of group members revealed the diversity of those affected.
During US President Donald Trump’s first term, authorities started to impose stricter controls on international students in STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – by intensifying security screenings to protect against the transfer of sensitive technology and research to foreign entities.
Under Trump’s second administration, however, those measures appear to have expanded beyond hi-tech fields.
“The definition of ‘sensitive’ has become so broad that even business, humanities programmes and course-based programmes with no research component are getting caught up,” Zhou said.


Jack Jing, general manager of Beijing-based migration service provider WellTrend, said extended background checks had become standard procedure for US-bound students, though timelines varied by academic level and field of study.
“Secondary school students typically face checks lasting three to five weeks, while postgraduate students in STEM fields can expect waits of two to six months,” he said.
A PhD candidate in electrical and computer engineering, identified only by her surname Hu, attended her visa interview in July and has since chosen to defer her studies until next spring.
“As my visa status is a complete black box, I cannot make any meaningful plans for my life,” the 26-year-old Changsha native said.
“Pursuing a higher degree is one step in a much longer journey that I mapped out for myself. But having all your plans frozen is emotionally distressing.”
The international student bottleneck comes amid a slew of tightening immigration policies in Washington, and more than a year after the Trump administration vowed to “aggressively” revoke the student visas of Chinese nationals.
In September of last year, Trump raised the fee for new H-1B visa petitions from around US$1,000 to US$100,000. That move was blocked by a federal court earlier this summer, but the administration last week proposed a new regulation that would raise the fee for the skilled worker visas even higher, to over US$103,000.
Earlier this month, the US temporarily suspended immigrant visa appointments at consulates around the world.
Meanwhile, under a new rule effective from September 15, international students on F-1 visas will only be allowed to stay in the US for an initial period of up to four years. Previously, students were granted “duration of status”, which allowed them to stay without an expiration date as long as they maintained their student status.
Students pursuing longer programmes must now formally apply to extend their permission to stay, creating extra paperwork and new uncertainty.
Additionally, the post-graduation grace period for international students has been halved from 60 days to just 30. Those who have finished their studies must either leave the United States or change to another visa status within that narrow window.
Desperate visa applicants are exhausting every possible avenue to expedite their cases. Standard embassy email inquiries go unanswered. Universities themselves have sent letters to authorities, with little effect.
Zhou and Hu both said they had contacted US senators in their host universities’ electoral districts, but lawmakers could not compel federal agencies to accelerate background checks.
In May 2026, a coalition of 32 university associations warned that continued processing delays could discourage international enrolment.
Last week, 30 senators sent a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding answers about appointment unavailability and timely processing of student visas.


The pervasive sense of powerlessness has made some students easy targets for online scammers claiming to have “internal connections at the embassy” who can fast-track approvals. Zhou said several students had been defrauded of substantial sums.
“Students are already in such a desperate situation, waiting anxiously with no way out,” he said. “Taking advantage of the desperation is awful.”
For those still waiting, the psychological toll mounts.
Hu from Changsha said she had obtained a five-year US student visa in 2024 with no problems.
“At that time, I did not take the offer to go because of family reasons. If I had known things would turn out like this, I would have planned far more carefully,” she said.
The stakes are higher for another prospective student, identified only by his surname Qian, who has been admitted to an electrical engineering PhD programme. His university allows only one deferral with no option to postpone again, meaning any additional delay would result in his offer being revoked.
He described living in “constant anxiety” that had taken a severe toll on his mental health.
“I have been working towards this goal since my undergraduate years, and now at the final leg of the journey, the path is suddenly blocked,” he said.
“Even if I defer, there is no guarantee I will ever get to go. I will be living with anxiety until I finally get an answer on my visa.”
As the autumn semester begins, affected students are left to rethink their futures in an increasingly unpredictable geopolitical climate.
For Zhou, the lessons for future students are stark: have a backup plan, apply for visa interviews as soon as possible, and never assume that academic merit alone will guarantee a smooth passage across the border.
Additional reporting by Phoebe Zhang


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International students are being forced to defer enrolment at US universities as background checks and visa bottlenecks put them in limbo


International students are being forced to defer enrolment at US universities as background checks and visa bottlenecks put them in limbo.


United States

Donald Trump

US visa delays leave Chinese students stranded with ‘frozen’ plans and ‘constant anxiety’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}International students are being forced to defer enrolment at US universities as background checks and visa bottlenecks put them in limbo

International students are being forced to defer enrolment at US universities as background checks and visa bottlenecks put them in limbo