Senator Ashley Moody (R-FL) unveiled landmark legislation Tuesday aimed at halting student visas for nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), citing escalating concerns over espionage, intellectual property theft, and national security threats linked to Chinese nationals operating under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The bill, titled the Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act — or Stop CCP VISAs Act — would ban the issuance of U.S. student visas to PRC nationals, who under Chinese law are legally obligated to assist in intelligence-gathering efforts.
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“It is unfortunate that the CCP’s draconian national security law requires us to take such drastic measures, but the risk of allowing this to continue unabated is too great to ignore,” Senator Moody said. “The CCP took advantage of Americans’ goodwill and subversively exported agents to our shores to spy, oppress dissidents, and steal publicly funded research.”
Representative Riley Moore (R-WV) is introducing companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
Moody and Moore cited the PRC’s 2015 National Security Law and 2017 National Intelligence Law, which compel Chinese citizens and students to aid in espionage operations if requested by the government — a legal structure that, they argue, makes any Chinese national a potential risk to U.S. security.
“Every year, we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals into the U.S. on student visas,” Rep. Moore said. “We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten our national security. It’s time we turn off the spigot.”
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Senator Moody previously defended a similar state-level law in Florida while serving as the state’s attorney general, aimed at reducing CCP influence over Florida’s colleges and universities.
The legislation follows a series of high-profile espionage cases involving Chinese students and researchers:
- Naval Base Incursions: Multiple Chinese students were arrested in 2020 after illegally entering Naval Air Station Key West and taking photographs of restricted military areas.
- Live-Fire Surveillance: In Michigan, five PRC nationals were recently charged with photographing U.S.-Taiwan joint military exercises.
- Drone Surveillance: A student in Virginia was convicted after flying a drone over a naval shipyard.
- Technology Theft: In Chicago, a Chinese national on a student visa was found guilty of recruiting spies to steal advanced U.S. technologies.
- PLA Ties Concealed: Several researchers have been arrested for visa fraud and lying about ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
A 2019 Senate report and 2024 House investigation revealed that hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in research funding may have indirectly aided the PRC’s military modernization.
The U.S. State Department, in its public statements and internal briefings, has acknowledged the extensive presence of CCP-backed operations on American campuses. University research labs, in particular, have been vulnerable targets for high-tech espionage, often focused on defense technologies, artificial intelligence, and biomedical innovations.
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While some critics may view the bill as overly broad, its supporters say the urgency of countering Chinese espionage demands bold legislative action.
“We are not banning Chinese students out of prejudice,” Moody said. “We are acting because the CCP has legally bound its citizens to act as agents of the state — and that changes the entire equation.”
If enacted, the Stop CCP VISAs Act would immediately curtail new visa approvals for PRC nationals under student programs and send a clear message that the U.S. will not tolerate academic channels being exploited for foreign intelligence operations.
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