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President Obama recently announced some visa changes last week which will lead to longer term visas being issued to Chinese citizens. Both US and Chinese citizens should benefit. Chinese citizens are likely to be granted longer term visas for the US. Similarly, US citizens are likely to be granted longer term visas for China.
The changes agreed during Obama's recent visit to China apply to student and visitor visas. They will allow for longer-term visas for students, tourists and business visitors, reducing the need to extend visas in future.
US visas are issued by the State Department, and allow the visa holder to enter the US on a temporary basis. For students it is a maximum period of five years. For business visitors and tourists the visa is valid for multiple visits of up to six months each for up to ten years.
One issue that has not been dealt with is the long processing time for employment based immigration visas for Chinese nationals. Chinese citizens waiting to apply for EB2 and EB3 immigration visas, have found that it takes many years to obtain an employment based immigrant visa.
