The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday it will sharply cut visa durations for foreign journalists, capping most at 240 days and limiting Chinese journalists specifically to just 90 days. The move eliminates the “duration of status” system, under which media visas could effectively last years, replacing it with fixed terms that will require foreign reporters to file for renewal at the end of each period.
The measure is not new territory: the first Trump administration imposed a nearly identical 90-day cap on Chinese journalists’ visas in May 2020, during an escalating dispute that began after Beijing expelled journalists from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal in response to U.S. restrictions on Chinese state media staffing. That 2020 measure was later withdrawn by the Biden administration in July 2021 before it could take effect; Thursday’s rule effectively revives and finalizes it, with the same 240-day and 90-day thresholds.
China strongly objected to the discriminatory rule. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian commented on Friday, “The new U.S. rule seriously violates the three-point consensus between China and the U.S. on media issues reached in 2021, and seriously affects Chinese media’s normal work in the U.S. China urges the U.S. to protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese journalists in the U.S. China reserves the right to take reciprocal countermeasures.”
