For two decades, it was popular for many Chinese families to send their children on “study tours” overseas – most often to the United States – during the summer.
The programmes generally involved summer camps jointly organised by American universities and language institutions, as well as visits to colleges, museums and tourist attractions.
In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, around 1.3 million Chinese students spent part of their summer holidays studying overseas, according to a report by Beijing-based consultancy Huaon.com, with the US ranked the most popular destination.
The access to elite US education and an English-language environment proved to be big attractions until this year when changes in American visa policies sent a chill through families.
It started last month when the administration of US President Donald Trump announced it would increase visa scrutiny of Chinese students, especially those with ties to the Communist Party or studying in “critical fields”.
Then on Monday, the US embassy announced that it would remove interview waivers for Chinese children under the age of 14. Under the new rules, young children planning a summer study trip would have to submit to interviews as part of the visa application process.
