Embassy in China meets students hit by COVID visa bans

BEIJING: The Indian Embassy here has held its first interactive session with the Indian students who suffered the most during the three-year COVID-19 period following China’s visa bans prolonging their academic periods for several years.

Around 80 old and new students from more than 13 Chinese universities took part in the “welcome and interaction ceremony” held on May 4. Indian Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat, and Counsellor Nitinjeet Singh interacted with the students and heard their grievances and experiences during Saturday’s meeting.

The meeting also included a detailed presentation by Amit Sharma, Second Secretary (Education) on various services offered by the Embassy, the Embassy posting on X said.

Until the coronavirus struck China in early 2020 over 23,000 Indian students mostly studying medicine in Chinese universities constituting the second highest number of foreign students after Pakistan.

When COVID-19 struck China, most of the Indian students left for home and could not return until early last year due to China’s visa bans and restrictions.

Many of them started returning in the latter part of 2022 while the Chinese universities began a new intake of students last year.

Some of the old students in their media interactions said they are shattered by China’s COVID visa bans and feel that Beijing could have handled the crisis more compassionately taking into consideration the impact of the restrictions had on their academic careers and meagre budgets as most of them hail from middle-class backgrounds.