II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5544 

To reduce the number of student visas available to nationals of the People’s 

Republic of China until China removes certain restrictions on United 

States students pursuing postsecondary educational opportunities in 

China and to restrict the types of postsecondary study available to 

Chinese nationals in the United States to include sensitive topics with 

potential dual-use military application. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 17 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself and Mr. RICKETTS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To reduce the number of student visas available to nationals 

of the People’s Republic of China until China removes 

certain restrictions on United States students pursuing 

postsecondary educational opportunities in China and to 

restrict the types of postsecondary study available to 

Chinese nationals in the United States to include sensitive topics with potential dual-use military application. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Reciprocity 

3 on Chinese Students Act’’ or the ‘‘PRC Students Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) American students in the People’s Republic 

7 of China (referred in this section as the ‘‘PRC’’) 

8 face internal travel restrictions, censorship, and a 

9 growing threat of arrest or detention via exit bans 

10 and an expanded espionage law. 

11 (2) These restrictions and other threats have 

12 caused a cooling effect on the matriculation of 

13 United States students in Chinese universities, 

14 which has been compounded by anti-western senti15 ment. 

16 (3) There are currently fewer than 1,000 

17 United States students studying in China, while 

18 there are an estimated 290,000 Chinese students 

19 studying in the United States. 

20 (4) The PRC has— 

21 (A) heightened surveillance and political 

22 controls on university campuses; 

23 (B) intensified internet censorship; 

24 (C) fortified its firewall, which blocks 

25 Google, Facebook, and other United States so26 cial media platforms; and 


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1 (D) subjected students to biometric scan2 ning to enter universities. 

3 (5) Additional restrictions imposed by the PRC 

4 include— 

5 (A) state censorship on topics deemed sen6 sitive; 

7 (B) an ongoing campaign against ‘‘western 

8 values’’; 

9 (C) democratic backsliding; 

10 (D) strict data protection laws; and 

11 (E) restrictive access to state archives. 

12 (6) Foreign students inside the PRC are re13 quired to register with local authorities when under14 taking internal travel and certain areas in China, 

15 such as Xinjiang and Tibet, cannot be accessed by 

16 foreign students without required travel permits that 

17 must be obtained through an internal government18 registered operator. 

19 (7) American students are explicitly restricted 

20 from attending— 

21 (A) the 2 universities that are directly ad22 ministered by the PRC’s Central Military Com23 mission, the National Defense University and 

24 the National University of Defense Technology; 


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1 (B) any of the PRC’s military academies; 

2 and 

3 (C) any other institution of higher edu4 cation that does not appear on the China Schol5 arship Council’s list of approved universities. 

6 (8) The PRC has used ‘‘exit bans’’ to stop some 

7 foreigners from leaving the country and has engaged 

8 in arbitrary detentions. 

9 (9) The Counterespionage Law of the PRC, 

10 which was passed by the National People’s Congress 

11 on April 26, 2023, expands the definition of espio12 nage from covering state secrets and intelligence to 

13 any ‘‘documents, data, materials or items related to 

14 national security’’, without specifying the parameters 

15 for how such terms are defined. The offenses pre16 viously covered by privacy provisions under the 

17 Criminal Law of the PRC had carried a maximum 

18 penalty of 3 years imprisonment, but were not often 

19 enforced. Under the new law, such offenses can re20 sult in imprisonment for life or the death penalty. 

21 (10) Chinese students in the United States and 

22 in other western countries have been accused of espi23 onage and intelligence collection to bolster the 

24 PRC’s military base as part of the Chinese Com25 munist Party’s Military-Civil Fusion Policy. 


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1 (11) In January 2024, a Chinese student study2 ing at the University of Minnesota crashed a drone 

3 in a tree near Langley Air Force base in Hampton, 

4 Virginia. After flying to California the following day, 

5 the student was arrested and charged with espio6 nage. 

7 (12) In September 2024, United States pros8 ecutors alleged that 5 Chinese University of Michi9 gan graduates, who claimed to be stargazing, were 

10 taking photos in the middle of the night of military 

11 vehicles at Camp Grayling during a United States 

12 National Guard training exercise that included Tai13 wanese military personnel. 

14 (13) According to the Select Committee on the 

15 Chinese Communist Party of the House of Rep16 resentatives, the PRC operates nearly 500 foreign 

17 talent programs whose members are contractually 

18 obligated to return to the PRC with secrets and ex19 pertise gained in foreign universities and labs in 

20 order to drive military modernization and other tech21 nological development in the PRC. 

22 (14) On October 14, 2024, the Wall Street 

23 Journal reported that, according to European secu24 rity officials— 


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1 (A) Chinese students and guest scientists 

2 have become a prime conduit for Chinese espio3 nage in the West; 

4 (B) Chinese spies masquerading as re5 searchers have recently grown better at hiding 

6 their tracks; 

7 (C) some Chinese students enroll in lan8 guage or literature courses and later switch to 

9 quantum computing or other sensitive areas; 

10 and 

11 (D) the PRC’s intelligence-gathering and 

12 security operations might comprise up to 

13 600,000 people. 

14 (15) According to the Australian Strategic Pol15 icy Institute, the People’s Liberation Army has 

16 sponsored more than 2,500 military scientists and 

17 engineers to study abroad during the most recent 15 

18 years in order to acquire technology needed to mod19 ernize the PRC’s military. 

20 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

21 The purpose of this Act is to introduce reciprocity 

22 into the Sino-American relationship by— 

23 (1) reducing the number of Chinese students in 

24 the United States to match the number of American 

25 students in the People’s Republic of China as long 


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1 as PRC restrictions against United States students 

2 persist; and 

3 (2) restricting the types of postsecondary study 

4 available to Chinese nationals in the United States 

5 to include sensitive topics with potential dual-use 

6 military application. 

7 SEC. 4. GRADUAL REDUCTION OF CHINESE STUDENTS IN 

8 THE UNITED STATES. 

9 Section 214(m) of the Immigration and Nationality 

10 Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(m)) is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph 

13 (C), the Secretary of State, beginning in fiscal year 

14 2025, in collaboration with the Secretary of Home15 land Security, shall annually reduce by 50,000 the 

16 number of nationals of the People’s Republic of 

17 China who are authorized to reside in the United 

18 States as nonimmigrants under subparagraph (F)(i), 

19 (J)(i), or (M)(i) of section 101(a)(15) compared to 

20 the number of such aliens so authorized during the 

21 previous fiscal year, until the number of such aliens 

22 is equal to the number of United States citizens who 

23 are enrolled in a postsecondary course of study in 

24 the People’s Republic of China. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Nationals of the People’s Republic of 

2 China who are admitted to the United States as 

3 nonimmigrants under section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) may 

4 not be enrolled at a United States institution of 

5 higher education in any postsecondary program in6 volving a sensitive topic with potential dual-use mili7 tary application, including— 

8 ‘‘(i) naval architecture; 

9 ‘‘(ii) marine engineering; 

10 ‘‘(iii) aircraft engineering; 

11 ‘‘(iv) artificial intelligence; 

12 ‘‘(v) quantum computing; and 

13 ‘‘(vi) any other area of study determined 

14 by the Secretary of Defense to involve a sen15 sitive topic with potential dual-use military ap16 plication. 

17 ‘‘(C)(i) The Secretary of State shall submit a 

18 report to Congress as soon as the Secretary deter19 mines that the Government of the People’s Republic 

20 of China— 

21 ‘‘(I) has lifted internal travel restrictions 

22 relating to— 

23 ‘‘(aa) the requirement that United 

24 States students register with local authori25 ties when traveling within China; and 


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1 ‘‘(bb) the requirement that United 

2 States students obtain internal travel per3 mits and guided tours to visit certain prov4 inces within China, such as Xinjiang and 

5 Tibet; 

6 ‘‘(II) is granting United States students 

7 within China access to the internet and Chinese 

8 research databases that is commensurate with 

9 the access available to the internet and United 

10 States research databases by Chinese students 

11 in the United States; 

12 ‘‘(III) has discontinued threats of exit bans 

13 and the arbitrary detention of United States 

14 students; and 

15 ‘‘(IV) is granting United States students 

16 access to all Chinese universities and institu17 tions of higher education. 

18 ‘‘(ii) Beginning on the first day of the first fis19 cal year beginning after the date on which the report 

20 required under clause (i) is submitted to Congress, 

21 the restriction on the admittance of Chinese stu22 dents described in subparagraph (A) shall cease to 

23 have any force or effect.’’. 

Æ 


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