‘Congress needs to end China’s exploitation of our student visa program,’ Rep. Riley Moore said.
A group of House Republicans on Friday introduced legislation to ban Chinese citizens from obtaining U.S. student visas, citing national security concerns associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Rep. Riley Moore (R-W. Va.), a first-term congressman who sits on the Appropriations Committee, led the “Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act of 2025,” or the “Stop CCP VISAs Act of 2025.”
“Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas. We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security,” Moore said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
As an example, Moore pointed to the federal indictment of five Chinese nationals in October 2024, who were accused of misleading investigators about their trip to a remote military site in Michigan and conspiring to delete photos from their cellphones. At the time of the incident, the defendants were students at the University of Michigan as part of the university’s joint program with China-based Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
“Congress needs to end China’s exploitation of our student visa program. It’s time we turn off the spigot and immediately ban all student visas going to Chinese nationals,” Moore added.
The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to “prohibit the admission of Chinese nationals as nonimmigrant students, and for other purposes.”
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It says that “an alien who is a national of the People’s Republic of China may not be issued a visa or otherwise provided status as a nonimmigrant … for the purpose of conducting research or pursuing a course of study.”
The bill is expected to affect visas issued for academic students, vocational students, and exchange visitors.
Cosponsors of the legislation include Reps. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), and Addison McDowell (R-N.C.).
“The Chinese Communist Party is fundamentally opposed to our American values, and yet we have handed out hundreds of thousands of student visas to Chinese nationals, many of whom are state-sponsored spies,” Gill said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
Perry told The Epoch Times it “makes ZERO sense” to allow so many Chinese nationals to come to the United States annually to “infiltrate American academic institutions.”
McDowell said the act “closes the loopholes on this national security threat and puts America first.”
“It’s clear China is taking advantage of these visas to spy on our military, steal American research, and infiltrate our schools. Enough is enough,” he said in a statement.
The FBI warns on its website that the Chinese communist regime “has historically sponsored economic espionage,” and it uses some Chinese students, particularly post-graduate students and post-doctorate researchers studying science, engineering, and mathematics to “operate as non-traditional collectors of intellectual property.”
“China is the world’s principal infringer of intellectual property. The annual cost to the U.S. economy of counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets is between $225 billion and $600 billion,” the FBI states.
In 2020, federal prosecutors charged Ye Yanqing, a lieutenant in the People’s Liberation Army, for allegedly concealing her continued military service on her J-1 visa application. During her exchange program at Boston University from October 2017 to April 2019, Ye allegedly continued to complete “numerous assignments” for the Chinese military, including retrieving U.S. military intelligence and sending U.S. documents to China.
In December last year, Wen Shenghua, a Chinese national who had overstayed his student visa, was arrested in California for allegedly exporting shipments of firearms, ammunition, and other military items to North Korea.
The Chinese regime also monitors Chinese students and mobilizes them through the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), which is overseen by its United Front Work Department, the State Department states on its website. The department oversees a sprawling network of agencies and organizations to carry out the Chinese regime’s influence activities and intelligence operations.
Some CSSAs in the United States have openly stated that they are directed, supported, or financed by their local Chinese consulates. These student groups have also been known for attempts to force the cancelation of events or speeches hosted by overseas dissident groups at U.S. schools.
