Students hit out at US visa refusals

Since US embassies and consulates worldwide resumed processing student visas in early May, Chinese students have shared their "10043" refusal experiences in several WeChat groups. The students mainly attended leading science universities, including Harbin Engineering University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Beihang University and Beijing Institute of Technology.

Mr Xiao said: "New cases are reported in the groups almost daily. One student had his visa revoked because he went to a high school affiliated to Northwestern Polytechnical University."

Another student, believing that only matriculated status at blacklisted entities would be considered, included a short-term exchange program at Harbin Institute of Technology in his visa application, which was refused because of this.

Another student, who wanted to be named only as Kerry, received his visa refusal last week. He attended the Harbin institute seven years ago.

The student, who has received a doctoral offer for an electronic engineering program with a full scholarship from the University of California-Davis, said he is the only candidate for the program. A letter was prepared for Kerry's visa application, requesting consular officials grant him a visa so he could start his research in the fall. His tutor also provided a letter, promising that he would monitor all Kerry's research activities.

Still, a visa officer rejected his application after confirming the university Kerry attended as an undergraduate. "I gave up other universities' offers for this program－otherwise, I would be at Kyoto University in Japan now and graduate next year," he said.

The presidential proclamation applies not only to students from the listed entities but also to scholars who receive funding from the China Scholarship Council.

Kerry said more than 2,000 students could have been denied visas, as there are five "10043 students" WeChat groups and each has reached the maximum number of 500 people.