HONG KONG (AP) — Vaishnavi Srinivasagopalan, a talented Indian IT skilled who has labored in each India and the U.S., has been on the lookout for work in China. Beijing’s new Okay-visa program concentrating on science and know-how staff might flip that dream right into a actuality.
The Okay-visa rolled out by Beijing final month is a part of China’s widening effort to meet up with the U.S. within the race for world expertise and cutting edge technology. It coincides with uncertainties over the U.S.’s H-1B program below tightened immigrations insurance policies carried out by President Donald Trump.
“(The) Okay-visa for China (is) an equal to the H-1B for the U.S.,” mentioned Srinivasagopalan, who’s intrigued by China’s working surroundings and tradition after her father labored at a Chinese language college a number of years again. “It’s a good possibility for folks like me to work overseas.”
The Okay-visa dietary supplements China’s present visa schemes together with the R-visa for international professionals, however with loosened necessities, resembling not requiring an applicant to have a job supply earlier than making use of.
“College students learning within the U.S. hoped for an (H-1B) visa, however at the moment this is a matter,” mentioned Bikash Kali Das, an Indian masters pupil of worldwide relations at Sichuan College in China.
China desires extra international tech professionals
China is hanging whereas the iron is sizzling.
The ruling Communist Social gathering has made world management in superior applied sciences a high precedence, paying huge authorities subsidies to help analysis and improvement of areas resembling synthetic intelligence, semiconductors and robotics.
“Beijing perceives the tightening of immigration insurance policies within the U.S. as a chance to place itself globally as welcoming international expertise and funding extra broadly,” mentioned Barbara Kelemen, affiliate director and head of Asia at safety intelligence agency Dragonfly.
Unemployment among Chinese graduates stays excessive, and competitors is intense for jobs in scientific and technical fields. However there’s a abilities hole China’s management is raring to fill. For many years, China has been dropping high expertise to developed international locations as many stayed and labored within the U.S. and Europe after they completed research there.
The mind drain has not totally reversed.
Many Chinese language dad and mom nonetheless see Western schooling as superior and are desperate to ship their kids overseas, mentioned Alfred Wu, an affiliate professor on the Nationwide College of Singapore.
Nonetheless, in recent times, a rising variety of professionals together with AI specialists, scientists and engineers have moved to China from the U.S., together with Chinese language-People. Fei Su, a chip architect at Intel, and Ming Zhou, a number one engineer at U.S.-based software program agency Altair, had been amongst those that have taken educating jobs in China this yr.
Many expert staff in India and Southeast Asia have already expressed curiosity concerning the Okay-visa, mentioned Edward Hu, a Shanghai-based immigration director on the consultancy Newland Chase.
Questions on further competitors from international staff
With the jobless charge for Chinese language aged 16-24 excluding college students at practically 18%, the marketing campaign to draw extra international professionals is elevating questions.
“The present job market is already below fierce competitors,” mentioned Zhou Xinying, a 24-year-old postgraduate pupil in behavioral science at japanese China’s Zhejiang College.
Whereas international professionals might assist “result in new applied sciences” and totally different worldwide views, Zhou mentioned, “some Chinese language younger job seekers could really feel stress as a result of introduction of the Okay-visa coverage.”
Kyle Huang, a 26-year-old software program engineer based mostly within the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, mentioned his friends within the science and know-how fields worry the brand new visa scheme “may threaten native job alternatives”.
A latest commentary printed by a state-backed information outlet, the Shanghai Observer, downplayed such considerations, saying that bringing in such international professionals will profit the economic system. As China advances in areas resembling AI and cutting-edge semiconductors, there’s a “hole and mismatch” between certified jobseekers and the demand for expert staff, it mentioned.
“The extra complicated the worldwide surroundings, the extra China will open its arms,” it mentioned.
“Beijing might want to emphasize how choose international expertise can create, not take, native jobs,” mentioned Michael Feller, chief strategist at consultancy Geopolitical Technique. “However even Washington has proven that that is politically a tough argument to make, regardless of many years of proof.”
China’s disadvantages even with the brand new visas
Recruitment and immigration specialists say international staff face numerous hurdles in China. One is the language barrier. The ruling Communist Social gathering’s web censorship, generally known as the “Nice Firewall,” is one other disadvantage.
A rustic of about 1.4 billion, China had solely an estimated 711,000 international staff residing within the nation as of 2023.
The U.S. nonetheless leads in analysis and has the benefit of utilizing English broadly. There’s additionally nonetheless a comparatively clearer pathway to residency for a lot of, mentioned David Stepat, nation director for Singapore on the consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates.
Nikhil Swaminathan, an Indian H1-B visa holder working for a U.S. non-profit group after ending graduate college there, is enthusiastic about China’s Okay-visa however skeptical. “I might’ve thought-about it. China’s an awesome place to work in tech, if not for the tough relationship between India and China,” he mentioned.
Given a alternative, many jobseekers nonetheless are more likely to purpose for jobs in main world firms exterior China.
“The U.S. might be extra susceptible to dropping would-be H-1B candidates to different Western economies, together with the UK and European Union, than to China,” mentioned Feller at Geopolitical Technique.
“The U.S. could also be sabotaging itself, nevertheless it’s doing so from a much more aggressive place by way of its attractiveness to expertise,” Feller mentioned. “China might want to do excess of supply handy visa pathways to draw the perfect.”
AP author Fu Ting in Washington and researchers Yu Bing and Shihuan Chen in Beijing contributed.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Photographs You Ought to See – Oct. 2025
