Chinese students: US embassy, consulates resume visa processing
- Several hundred applicants expected to arrive for processing on Tuesday and staff will be on hand to help them, acting US consul general William Bistransky says
- Resumption shows Americans ‘welcome foreign students into our homes or communities or universities’, he says
The US embassy and consulates in China will resume visa appointments for students on Tuesday, but restrictions on those with a “hi-tech” background will remain in place, according to a senior official.
William Bistransky, acting consul general at the US embassy in Beijing, told a press briefing on Friday that more than 3,000 online applications were submitted in the first hour of opening.
The resumption of visa appointments was sending a signal to Chinese students that Americans “welcome foreign students into our homes or communities or universities”, he said.
Several hundred applicants were expected to arrive for processing on Tuesday and more than 100 visa officers and 150 Chinese support staff would be on hand to help them, he said.
By the middle of the month, the missions should be handling about 2,000 applications a day, he said.
While the vast majority of students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics would receive their visas, some with a hi-tech background would require extra screening, Bistransky said.
