Chinese still not lining up for US visas

Over the weekend at the IPW show in Los Angeles, US State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services Julie Stufft said that so far in 2024, although visa applications from China are 3X what they were in 2023, numbers are still significantly below pre-pandemic 2019 level, when the State Department allocated more visas to China than to any other country in the world.

Prior to the pandemic, China was the #1 US overseas source market, and visitors from China spent more than $30B here in 2019.

Many 10-year US visas currently active in China will be coming up for renewal in 2025, and the State Department is hoping for a visitor surge when that happens.

Note that in the chart above, the years 2023-2025 are projections and not guaranteed.

I'm afraid we have to abandon hope for any big China resurgence prior to holiday season 2024-2025. But stay tuned for any unexpected developments.