Oxford AI PhD Junde Wu Shares Experience of Obstacles in Moving to the U.S., Frequent High-Salary Offers from China
Junde Wu stated that as an Oxford AI PhD, he has attempted to immigrate to the U.S. for many years without success. Initially, he was unable to attend Stanford due to PP10043 signed by Trump. Later, although he qualified for the EB-1A extraordinary ability green card, he faces a 4-5 year country-specific backlog due to being born in China.
Meanwhile, he receives 3-4 job offers from China each week, offering high salaries, free housing, and substantial research funding, with astonishing amounts even just for a meeting.
In terms of market dynamics, competition for AI talent between the U.S. and China is intensifying, with funds and opportunities flowing to environments more open to Chinese talent. U.S. policy restrictions have led to some top talents returning to China, benefiting Chinese AI laboratories and research projects, while U.S. institutions that rely on international talent are under pressure.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Junde Wu's experience reflects the tightening of visa and immigration pathways for Chinese students in the U.S. since the late 2010s through administrative measures like PP10043. Similar policies have previously led to multiple rejections of offers from top institutions like Stanford. The long wait times faced by applicants born in China in categories like EB-1A are a well-known structural issue.
In terms of capital pathways, Chinese institutions are directly competing for talent through high salaries, housing, and research funding, rapidly reallocating resources to overseas high-level PhD return projects. Meanwhile, the U.S. is losing some AI talent due to policy barriers, similar to the trend of several Chinese scientists returning to develop in China in recent years.
In the ongoing talent competition between Silicon Valley and Chinese AI laboratories, the global flow of AI talent is currently in a transitional phase characterized by the U.S. tightening immigration and China actively attracting talent.
This fundamentally represents a reconstruction of talent capital: U.S. policy restrictions accelerate the concentration of top Chinese AI talent domestically, with the mechanism being the contrast between visa backlogs and return incentives, prompting a shift of R&D resources and innovation momentum from the U.S. to China, thereby altering the global distribution of AI capabilities and pricing power.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
The higher the policy barriers, the lower the cost for other countries to poach talent.
With a four-year backlog, the opportunity window has closed, with three to four offers from China each week.
Talent is not loyal to a flag but flows to where the opportunities best match.