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Comment by Simulacra | Hacker News Reader

Could the government be pressuring them to return home?

I had this same thought, but given the blatant profiling of the China Initiative for four years —- to say nothing of other social prejudices, it might not have taken so much pressure but rather a gentle nudge to consider one’s environment.

I don’t doubt there’s been some interference by the Chinese government. I’m just not sure they could run a full-on scare tactics campaign without it blowing up.

If China's academic sector is still growing, I imagine the primary draw is opportunity, not pressure.

Do talk to your foreign colleagues about the immigration bureaucracy one of these days, it's frankly inhumane. China is simply offering better conditions, no need to apply the whip when you can hand out carrots.

It's not that hard to get immigration if you're a faculty member - especially in STEM.

Everyone I know - including Chinese - got it fairly easily. Many even during their postdoc years.

I believe there is a separate queue if you're getting it via academia and there's no special backlog there for Chinese.

Do consult the Visa Bulletin: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/v...

The waiting time for E2 preference for Chinese nationals is 4 years (priority date 9 July 2019, for Indian nationals it's 12 years (priority date 1 Jan 2011). That's what most academics would fall under (I certainly did). Those who fall under E1 preference will get their Green Card a little faster.

US immigration is a fraught topic. People with no or second-hand experience of the immigration system will manage to upset those who had to navigate it even with the best of intents. They would do well to keep silence.

That's permanent residence. Getting a temporary work permit is different.

Not really. Academics are often EB2, but there is a separate queue for academics. They do not distinguish between origin in that queue. An Indian is treated the same as any other country.

I can understand some of it given some notable examples of IP theft by China, but it’s absolutely bonkers when even people from allied countries like South Korea are part of the witch hunt unless members of the justice department can’t differentiate Asians from different countries.

It's either Chinese pressure or FBI "Chinese spy" prosecution.

unfortunately heaping on the speculation here, but what if the directive is more “anywhere that isn’t the US?”

I’ll leave the reasons for that to the imagination

If by that you mean "pressuring with large sums of money for both personal compensation and research funding", then yes.

From what I've read, if China wants you (not just Chinese, but also foreigners) you can go from struggling to secure grants to having money thrown at you in China.

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