Topline
Student visa appointments suspended last month by the State Department will soon resume, according to multiple outlets, but applicants will now have their social media profiles vetted by the federal government as a part of visa processing.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Key Facts
Student and exchange visa applicants will have their “entire online presence” scrubbed, CNN reported, citing a cable from the State Department that noted “limited access to, or visibility of, online presence could be construed as an effort to evade or hide certain activity.”
Consular officers, foreign service officers who work at U.S. embassies or consulates, will monitor for potentially hostile posts or messages concerning the U.S. and its government, according to the Associated Press.
Students will be required to make their social media accounts publicly accessible and those who do not make the change for the visa vetting process may be denied.
The change comes just weeks after the State Department temporarily paused visa appointments as it considered implementing the social media vetting process, Politico reported.
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Big Number
About 401,000. That is how many student visas were issued by the State Department last year, a dropdown from the 446,000 issued in 2023.
Key Background
The new visa process policy is part of an increasingly strict approach the Trump administration has taken to immigration. The administration has sought to place a limit on the number of international students Harvard University can enroll, targeting the prestigious institution over allegations of antisemitism linked to pro-Palesitnian demonstrations on its campus last year. The Trump administration has frozen and pulled funding from multiple universities over the protests and revoked hundreds of visas from international students, citing national security concerns and participation in the protests. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last month the government would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” announcing the move as the U.S. and China sorted out the details of a tariff and minerals deal.
Further Reading
Trump Administration Reviewing $9 Billion In Government Funding For Harvard (Forbes)
Read the full article here