China warns of tit-for-tat measures after US shortens visas for foreign journalists

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will dramatically reduce visas for foreign journalists in the United States to 240 days, down from years, and cut visas for Chinese journalists to just 90 days, raising concerns about press freedom in the United States and prompting China to warn of possible countermeasures.

The rule announced by the Department of Homeland Security will eliminate the “length of stay” system that allows foreign journalists to stay and work in the United States as long as they meet eligibility requirements. This will be replaced by a fixed period of time, although visas can be extended.

The agency says better screening of visa holders is necessary. But advocates for foreign journalists oppose the change, saying the significantly shorter stay would severely restrict their ability to live and work in the United States.

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The shorter visa rule for Chinese journalists, which does not include journalists from the “special administrative regions” of Hong Kong or Macau, is particularly harsh and could add tensions to already fraught relations between Washington and Beijing, although both leaders have said they intend to stabilize relations.

The decision comes at a time when President Donald Trump is targeting news organizations with multiple threats and legal actions at home, and his administration is working to tighten immigration policies, even though foreign journalists are not considered immigrants.

Press organizations denounce the decision

The rule will take effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. Congress can veto a rule, but this is extremely rare.

The rights group Reporters Without Borders said in a statement: “We are outraged that the Trump administration has cruelly restricted the duration of foreign journalists’ visas from a period of up to five years to a specific eight months.” “This change destroys the ability of international journalists to report from the United States and makes it extremely difficult for international media to work here at all.”

“The constant cycle of visa renewals restricts press freedom, as journalists will feel obliged to avoid angering the administration, for fear that their applications will be rejected,” she said.

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The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement calling the new visa policy “the behavior of a declining democracy, not the international vanguard of freedom of expression.”

In proposing the change in August 2025, the federal agency said the growing number of foreign journalists in the United States “poses a challenge” to its ability “to monitor and supervise these nonimmigrants while they are in the United States.”

She added that foreign students and visitors will also see their previous rule of “duration of stay” replaced by specific periods under the same decision.

By allowing them to enter the country for a limited period, the Department of Homeland Security said it can better screen visa holders to ensure their activities are permitted. Visas can be extended.

This is not the first time that visa shortening has been proposed

The first Trump administration sought to change the visa rules in 2020, but the proposal was withdrawn in 2021 when President Joe Biden took office.

But the White House then tightened visas for Chinese journalists to just 90 days, in response to the treatment of American journalists in China, including the expulsion of three Wall Street Journal reporters, as tensions rose during the Covid-19 pandemic between the two countries. Later, the Biden administration relaxed the rule, allowing longer stays of up to a year.

He watches: The Trump administration’s visa freeze has upended work and life for many American families

When the Trump administration proposed reviving the 90-day rule last year, China’s Foreign Ministry said it opposed the United States’ “discriminatory move targeting a specific country.”

China warns against reciprocal measures
China’s Foreign Ministry called the decision “discriminatory” and said it would affect the work of Chinese media in the United States

“China urges the United States to immediately rescind its discriminatory policies targeting Chinese journalists and effectively protect their legitimate rights and interests in the United States,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a daily press conference in Beijing. “China reserves the right to take reciprocal countermeasures,” he added.

AP journalists Fu Ting in Washington and E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing contributed to this report.