WASHINGTON, June 19 (Alliance News): The United States has directed its embassies and consulates worldwide to resume student and exchange visa appointments, but with a new condition: applicants must make their social media profiles public to undergo enhanced vetting, a senior State Department official confirmed Wednesday.
The move follows a May 27 directive from the Trump administration that temporarily halted scheduling of student and exchange visitor visas while the State Department revised its screening protocols to expand social media scrutiny.
Under the revised guidance, consular officers are now required to perform what the department calls a “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of all applicants for F (academic), M (vocational), and J (exchange visitor) nonimmigrant visas.
“To facilitate this vetting, all applicants must adjust the privacy settings of all their social media profiles to ‘public’,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This will help ensure we are properly screening every person attempting to enter the country.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a key proponent of the policy shift, had earlier announced that new guidance would be issued following an internal review.
Critics, however, have voiced serious concerns over the move, calling it a violation of free speech and privacy rights. Human rights and civil liberties groups say that students have already faced deportation or threats of legal action for expressing solidarity with Palestinians or criticizing Israel’s war actions in Gaza.
Trump administration officials have defended the policy, stating that foreign nationals who show support for Palestinian causes or criticize Israel could pose threats to US foreign policy.
They argue that such views are indicators of alignment with extremist ideologies, including what they term as “pro-Hamas sentiment.”
Legal analysts and civil rights advocates warn that the vetting requirement infringes on First Amendment protections. “This policy weaponizes visa screening to suppress political views and restrict global academic exchange,” one legal expert commented.
The decision to resume visa processing, albeit under stricter scrutiny, comes as US universities prepare for the fall academic intake. The mandatory public social media clause is expected to affect thousands of prospective international students.
