The U.S. State Department will restart issuing student and exchange visas, but with a major new requirement—scrutiny of applicants’ entire online presence.
Key Details
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According to a State Department cable obtained by CNN, student visa applicants will be subject to an in-depth review of their social media activity. The cable notes that “limited access to, or visibility of, online presence could be construed as an effort to evade or hide certain activity.”
Consular officers at U.S. embassies and consulates will be tasked with examining social media profiles and posts, specifically looking for content deemed hostile toward the U.S. or its government, the Associated Press reported.
Applicants will be required to make their social media accounts public. Those who fail to do so could be denied a visa.
This new policy follows a temporary pause in visa appointments by the State Department as officials debated the rollout of the social media screening process, Politico noted.
Big Number
Roughly 401,000 student visas were issued last year—a decline from 446,000 in 2023.
Background
The visa changes reflect a broader tightening of immigration policies under the Trump administration. The administration has tried to limit the number of international students enrolled at institutions like Harvard University, which came under scrutiny last year for pro-Palestinian campus protests and related allegations of antisemitism.
Federal funding has been cut for several universities over protest activity, and hundreds of student visas have been revoked, citing national security risks.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also announced that the U.S. would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” particularly those linked to the Chinese Communist Party or involved in sensitive fields of study. This move is part of ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and China over tariffs and critical minerals.
