Studying abroad in the United States plummeted 28.6%! The job market in China and the United States is cold

Spend millions to study abroad, only to be able to deliver food after returning home? This topic once aroused heated discussion among people.

This is not an isolated case, but a true portrayal of nearly 500,000 job seekers studying abroad.

2025年的人才招聘市场，据不完全统计拥有“海归”身份的求职者，比往年多了12%。

In the past, international students were responsible for appearance, talent, and the best in the workplace. However, now, they have been blocked by the market.

就业压力和市场环境，让这些“海派们”失去了往昔光泽。

In particular, international students from the United States are being "contained". The United States does not want to stay due to policy reasons. After returning to China, many companies do not recruit international students, so they cannot find a way out.

自带光环的身份也不再耀眼，甚至还不如本土生的道路宽广。

这届留学生，成了最艰难的一届夹缝中求生存的一代。

01

The United States was once the dream place for every international student. According to statistics, nearly 1.17 million international students worldwide study in the United States.

Between 2024 and 2025, the proportion of Chinese international students will reach as high as 260,000. This figure has declined compared with previous years, which shows the persistence and enthusiasm of international students for studying in the United States.

为什么如此之多的人前仆后继地向往美国之学？这都是源于曾经留学生是国内市场的“瑰宝”。

At that time, there were not many ways to study abroad, and the market lacked such talents, especially in the foreign-owned industry. As long as you had the status of studying abroad, you would be a hot commodity when you returned to China, and major companies were vying for space to recruit people.

哪怕不是名牌大学毕业，哪怕只是在国外混个文凭，回国都会被人高看一眼。

但是，随着出国留学的政策放宽，留学的道路变得越来越拥挤。

不少中产，为了给孩子寻得一个好的出路，寻得一个好的未来，即便省吃俭用，也会将自己的孩子送出国。

However, with more and more people on this road, coupled with the relative saturation of the market, the employment situation is not what it was at the beginning. As long as you return to your country, you will find a good home.

前段时间，来自浙江的留学生小叶在网上发文：国外留学7年，回国后开始摆摊卖盒饭。

Xiaoye, who has been abroad for 7 years, majored in film while studying abroad. He thought that by virtue of his status as an international student, he would be able to directly get a job in this type of job after returning to China, or directly enter a large film studio, but the reality gave him a deep slap in the face.

Not only did he not find a job that matched his major, he didn't even have a decent job. It was completely out of proportion to the time, energy, and finances he spent studying abroad for 7 years.

他的故事引发不少网友关注，纷纷道：现在的留学生真不比之前那般不吃香了。

Another netizen born in the 1990s shared his experience on Weibo. Although he and his girlfriend both had overseas Ph.D.s, after returning to China, they lost their jobs, could not find their personal identity, and were so confused that they doubted their lives.

He originally thought that he could have a bright future with the title of international student in a university, but he did not realize that the university had become the "academic northern Myanmar", and companies turned him away. The tenacity that he once spent millions to pursue his career has now turned into cannon fodder in the face of reality.

International students who have returned to China are faced with market siege, and international students abroad are also vulnerable to employment pressure.

Affected by the policy, many international student visas are not only difficult to apply for, but even if they are lucky enough to get it, problems frequently arise due to the shortened visa period.

There are also some who are treated specially because of their special majors. Even if they can enter the US market to work, they can only do some insignificant jobs and are not allowed to participate in all core area jobs. This has also caused a significant increase in the financial pressure of international students.

This is relatively good. Compared with these people, there are some people who are ruthlessly suppressed. They are either not recognized for their work ability, or they are kicked out directly because they are marked academically.

Not accepted abroad and not accepted at home, this batch of international students is attacked from both sides and has become the most difficult batch.

02

Why is the market for international students suddenly showing a downward trend? In fact, this has a lot to do with the environment and policies.

First of all, from a policy perspective, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the United States to obtain visas for international students.

Since 2018, the United States has gradually tightened its visa policy for international students. In the past, the visa was valid for 5 years, but it became one year from 2018.

By the first half of 2025, U.S. policy changed again, and for a while there was even a suspension of global student visas.

Not only that, the United States also adopts the method of delaying visas for international students in some professional fields, making it extremely difficult to apply for a visa.

In the United States, Chinese students account for more than 51%, and there are about 150,000 of these professionals.

For Chinese students in these fields, the validity period of the visa becomes three months.

Xiao Liu, a 23-year-old doctoral student, was almost unable to study in the United States because of visa issues. There was also international student Zhang Di, who didn’t even have the courage to return home to see his family because it was troublesome to apply for a visa.

As soon as the visa arrives, you have to go back and apply for it again. The application process is astonishing. Sometimes, a visa can take more than 9 months to be processed. Some even end up with pornography during the application process due to various reasons.

Even those international students who are lucky enough to stay abroad have encountered obstacles in finding employment abroad due to various factors in recent years, especially in more sensitive majors.

Even if people who graduate from sensitive majors such as science, technology, and engineering teaching can enter a company, they can only do some superficial work and cannot enter the core work at all.

Even those who have not graduated from these majors are still marginalized and find it extremely difficult to find a job.

As a result of the policy, the proportion of students studying in the United States will drop significantly in 2025, a drop of more than 20% compared to previous years.

It is difficult to find employment abroad, and the domestic market environment is also facing reforms to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Employees in many large factories are at risk of being laid off. Especially in the Internet industry, this is even more obvious. Many 985 and 211 graduates have become unfortunate members of the wave of layoffs, not to mention the uneven "returnees".

Of course, this is not the most important thing. Some companies say that recruiting "returnees" involves certain risks.

When an Internet company in Beijing was recruiting, there were more than 30 "returnees" among the more than 200 applicants. According to previous practice, these "returnees" had their own aura and were competing for them. However, when applying this time, they were basically not considered by HR.

One of the HR said the reason was that the background of foreign students is relatively complex, whether they have touched sensitive data and whether the partners in their social circle are clean, these must be carefully verified.

Once something goes wrong, you have to bear the corresponding responsibilities. Compared with students who have always been in the local area, it is much simpler and more convenient to investigate.

As the CEO of Gree said before, it will never use international students.

Indeed, many companies now, even if they employ international students, must conduct background checks regularly and report to relevant communities and units.

Not only that, even if people with the status of "returnees" want to take the job test in the end, they are prohibited from doing so in some places.

What’s even more explosive is that Guangdong recently issued an announcement that directly broke the entire international student circle. The public requested that international students no longer be considered, only domestic students.

Immediately afterwards, many regions in Beijing and Shandong announced that they would no longer recruit international students, and even top students from Harvard were restricted.

International students have suddenly become a "non-discriminatory" existence. It is almost impossible to get a decent job, and the aura of international students has faded.

03

With the tightening of policies, coupled with the United States' various pickiness about Chinese students, places that were once sacred are now beginning to flee collectively, which has also attracted the attention of the New York Times.

In recent years, the American dream of many international students has been shattered.

Starting in 2022, American schools will begin to control the degrees of international students.

According to statistics from Pennsylvania, more than 8,000 Chinese students are expelled from American universities every year due to academic or other problems. Nearly 70% of them are undergraduates, and they are all from the top 50 schools in the United States.

The reason for expulsion is academic dishonesty or poor performance, which undoubtedly casts a negative impression on international students, and may even prevent the entire academic process from being completed due to failure to obtain academic qualifications and degree certificates.

This is not only a heavy blow to an individual, but also a deep blow to a family. They worked hard and gritted their teeth to send their children to gold-plating, but in the end it backfired. They failed to get a diploma, and it was even more difficult to find a job back home.

Due to international factors, even Chinese students who enter the United States to work, no matter how high their academic level is, have been labeled with some inexplicable labels in recent years, such as "spies", "unequal work ability", etc., and have been ruthlessly suppressed by companies.

Years of hard work finally came to nothing, and there were malicious speculations. The dream of studying in the United States was shattered for a time.

The H-1B visa issue that has caused a lot of controversy recently has dealt a blow to Chinese scientific and technological personnel in the United States. Not only did they lose their jobs, their green card applications were restricted, they were forced to have their applications extended, and they were even directly sent back to the country.

Driven by policies, leaving the United States may be a wise choice. The path for students studying in the United States may become narrower in the future.

Looking at the development process of our country, with the substantial improvement in teaching quality and teaching staff in recent years, the knowledge of domestic students can be compared with that of well-known international schools.

Some time ago, Musk mentioned in a special speech on AI technology that China's AI technology has led the world and created an amazing market.

Instead of going abroad to seek life and knowledge, it is better to grow up locally. After all, the aura of international students has faded with the changes of the times.

As far as the current domestic job market is concerned, with high-quality development, AI technology continues to make breakthroughs. Our country's employment situation may be undergoing a profound structural change, such as industrial reshaping, technological change, etc., and the workplace is also facing a reshuffle.

This is an opportunity and a choice.

Under the current environment and policy trends, this class of international students may be able to stand on the cusp of the storm and touch the next blue ocean. Let’s wait and see.