The Trump administration has stopped making appointments for new student visas.
As it gets ready to introduce thorough social media screening for all foreign applicants, the Trump administration has directed US embassies across the world to immediately cease doing visa interviews for overseas students.
Within days, consular sections are instructed by a state department cable published on Tuesday to stop adding “any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”
The edict, which was originally reported by Politico and then confirmed by the Guardian, may seriously slow down the processing of visas and harm universities that depend significantly on foreign students for funding. Donald Trump has accused many of having far-left ideas.
According to the cable, “the department is reviewing current operations and procedures for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor visa applicants.” Guidelines for “expanded social media vetting for all such applicants” will be released by officials.
The current screening procedures, which have mostly targeted students who took part in pro-Palestinian college demonstrations, have been further intensified by the freeze. According to a cable obtained by the Guardian at the time, consular officers have been required to perform mandatory social media reviews since March in order to find evidence of support for “terrorist activity or a terrorist organisation.” This could include anything as broad as demonstrating support for the Palestinian cause. Even if posts were later removed, police were still compelled by that direction to take screenshots of “potentially derogatory” content for their permanent records.
All student visa applicants would be subject to social media verification under the proposed policy, not only those who have been identified for activism. The screening process, which has since been linked to the Trump administration’s position on fighting antisemitism, would involve consular officers looking through applicants’ posts, shares, and comments on social media sites like Instagram, X, and TikTok for anything they believe to be a threat to national security.
Last week, Rubio informed lawmakers that his department had revoked “probably in the thousands” of visas, up from the more than 300 that were disclosed in March. He remarked, “We probably have more to do, but I don’t know the latest count.”
According to NAFSA, there are over a million international students in the US, who will support over 378,000 employment and contribute close to $43.8 billion to the US economy in 2023–2024. Higher education institutions already dealing with dwindling overseas enrolment face additional difficulties as a result of the visa block.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the state department.
