You may get admission in an Ivy League university, but if your parents are part of the Chinese Communist Party or your phone has pictures of the mandatory military training you underwent in college, you may find yourself unable to continue with your programme. Citing 30 such incidents of harassment in the United States of America since August, the Chinese foreign ministry has warned students wanting to pursue post-graduation in the US to be prepared for the worst, from prolonged questioning during immigration to deportation.

Chinese students make up around 37 per cent of all foreign post-graduate students in the US, but thanks to an order signed by Donald Trump last year, they are being turned away. The order prohibits the entry of students from science and technology universities which also do research for military purposes. The aim was to prevent Chinese STEM students using research done in the US for China’s military goals. But even non-STEM students have been refused visas, despite supportive letters from US universities.

With Joe Biden not having revoked this order, at least 500 visas have reportedly been turned down this year. One such MBA student described the scene at the visa office — when the applicants in front of him in the queue were told, “Sorry I can’t approve your visa,” they stood silent for 10 seconds, “as if hit by something blunt and sharp.” They had been admitted into Yale and Stanford, for architecture and finance.

Those who can afford to, opt for Hong Kong and Singapore. But what about those like the poor rural student who slogged to get into a good university, worked to finance his GRE and English classes, and got into an Ivy League university — only to be rejected? The US universities are unhappy too; in response to a letter to them by 1,000 students, they wrote to the government seeking clarifications. Dismissing the government’s conspiracy theory, one professor pointed out that if the flow of Chinese students falls significantly, research in the US will be severely affected.

The students have now decided to fight it out. They plan to sue the US government, and have already found a senior civil rights and immigration lawyer. Here’s wishing them luck.