Under existing law, companies or universities are required to seek a government export license if they allow citizens from controlled countries, most prominently China, to engage in research involving technologies with potential military uses.

But licenses are not required if a Chinese national becomes a citizen or a permanent resident in another country, such as Canada or the United Kingdom, which is not subject to stringent US export controls.

There are particular concerns about the tens of thousands of Chinese who have taken out citizenship in countries that exchange technology freely with the US.

The proposal would expand the so-called “deemed export“ requirement to cover anyone born in China or other controlled countries such as Iran and North Korea, even if they had taken out citizenship in another country.

The idea has particularly angered US universities, which have seen the enrolment of foreign students drop sharply owing to the stricter visa requirements imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

International student enrolment at US colleges and universities has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last academic year, following a 2.4 percent fall the year before.

“The most alarming outcome of this proposed rule will be the substantial negative impact on attracting the best and brightest people from round the world to participate in the conduct of basic and applied research, which is of extraordinary social and economic value to the nation,“ wrote Robert Goldston of the Princeton Plasma Physics laboratory, in one of hundreds of comments sent to the commerce department.

Lawyers and lobbyists following the debate in the US government say the administration might opt for a less restrictive rule. A commerce official said that whatever rule was adopted will “strive to protect national security while meeting the needs of industry and academia.“

“Controls on the release of technology to foreign nationals in the US must, and can, protect national security while allowing business and the academic research community to employ the world‘s best minds, no matter their nationality,” the official said.