As always, students’ visa applications for education in the United States occupied a large portion of all applications for travel to America, while the refusal rate for them was declining.
The refusal rate of students’ visa applications declined from 32% to 15% from 2007 to 2008, while the number of applicants doubled.
The overall number of all visa applications in the Mainland for 2009 was 596,231, a year-on-year increase of 50,000, with student visa applications accounting for 98,500 of them.
Lei Guoxin, manager of the US study abroad department at Shanghai A&A International Education Agency, said: "We have not had students rejected on the basis of their visas since we launched our US study abroad department last year. The number of applicants rose dramatically after President Obama’s visit to Shanghai last year, while the age of applicants has fallen."
Straits Times reports that from March 1, all applicants will be required to apply for a US visa via the Online DS-160 Non-immigrant Visa Electronic Application.