Although a recent comeback in traveling activity was noticed in 2023 and 2024, the interest of Chinese travelers to visit the United States is struggling to reach the pre-pandemic levels.
According to a State Department official, visa applications filed by the Chinese have so far reached 60 percent of 2019 levels, when 1.2 million visa applications were filed, VisaGuide.World reports.
We’ve already seen a tripling of visa applications in China from last year, but we’re nowhere near where we were before. We did more visa [allocations] in China pre-pandemic than anywhere else.
The outcome can come as shocking, considering that China has been historically one of the top countries with most applications for a US visa. A total of 417,000 visa applications were filed in 2023, showing a decrease of 66.7 percent.
China Among Top 5 US Visa Applicants in Last Decade
China has been one of the top five countries with most visa applications filed in the US between 2014 and 2023.
Between 2014 and 2018, China was the top country for most visa applications to the US, filling some 9.8 million applications, while on an annual basis filed an average of 1.9 million requests.
The lockdown, travel restrictions, and the hesitation to travel after the pandemic, have made Chinese tourists quite isolated between 2019 and 2022. China was placed into lockdown in the last two months of 2019 and that was enough for Mexicans to overcome as the top source for visa applications. Since then, the trend has only gone down.
Indeed, since 2019, Chinese nationals have applied less and less for US visas. In 2021, which marked the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, only 108,000 visa applications were filed – the lowest record in the decade.
However, the trend also shows that despite the pandemic impacting visa applications, Chinese tourists are open to travel to the US, with visa applications in 2022 increasing by 48.3 per cent This further rose by 158 per cent in 2023, reaching over 400,000 applications.
China Set to Improve Connectivity In Efforts to Boost Tourism
This year, the Chinese government has announced several initiatives to improve its connectivity with the world, with some of those including visa-free entry to some countries as well as relaxation of visa regulations.
In March, China expanded the list of countries allowed to visit visa-free for 15 days, including Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg, with the measure being applicable from March until the end of 2025. Nationals of these countries are allowed to visit China during this period for different reasons including tourism, family visits and business.
We are willing to cooperate with the competent authorities to promote the negotiation and signing of more high-standard free trade agreements, expand the global free trade zone network, and maintain the stability and smoothness of the global industrial chain supply chain data chain.
The visa-free policy has boosted tourism in China significantly, with foreigners making some 2.95 million trips to China in the first two months of the year. While the number of visitors is estimated to be 2.3 times higher than in 2023, the surge can be attributed to Chinese celebrations of New Year, which in February gathered millions of visitors.