The United States will step up the review of applicants' social media accounts to resume the issuance of student visas

(Washington, D.C.) The United States will resume processing visa applications from foreign students, but will significantly intensify the review of applicants' social media accounts.

The US State Department informed US embassies and consulates abroad on Wednesday (June 18) to resume the visa application process for foreign students. Previously, at the end of May, the US State Department required its embassies and consulates abroad to suspend the appointment of new international student visa interviews.

Under the new guidelines, consular officers will conduct a "comprehensive and thorough review" of all student and exchange visitor applicants. The United States believes that by reviewing the social media accounts of applicants, it is possible to identify "applicants who are hostile to the United States, support terrorists, and carry out anti-Semitic violent activities".

According to the telegram sent by The State Council to embassies and consulates, consular officials will focus on reviewing posts and information that may hold dissenting opinions against the US government, culture, systems, etc., make detailed remarks on the online activities of student visa applicants, and take screenshots to preserve evidence to prevent the relevant content from being deleted or modified.

A senior official from the US State Department said that strengthening the review of applicants' social media accounts will ensure that every person attempting to enter the country is properly screened. To speed up the review process, the United States will require student visa applicants to set their social media accounts to public. If they do not, they may be regarded as evading the review or attempting to hide their online activities, and their visa applications will be rejected as a result.

According to the instructions of the US State Department, the review scope not only covers the applicant's social media activities but also his entire online presence. Consular officials must use all "appropriate search engines or other online resources" to conduct the review and look for any negative information about the applicant, "for example, during online searches, It may be found that the applicant has supported Hamas or its activities on social media, and this might be sufficient to constitute the reason for the visa rejection.

U.S. Secretary of State Rubio previously said that the visas of hundreds or thousands of people, including foreign students, have been cancelled because they participated in activities contrary to U.S. foreign policy, such as supporting Palestine and criticizing Israel's military operation in Gaza.

Although the US State Department will resume processing visa applications from foreign students, it warns that due to the need for more detailed reviews, the number of scheduled interview slots will be reduced. The State Council has also instructed embassies and consulates abroad to give priority to interviewing foreign doctors applying for exchange visas, as well as foreign students preparing to study at American universities where the proportion of overseas students is less than 15%.

After taking office again, US President Trump opened fire on universities such as Harvard University and Columbia University to crack down on anti-Semitism and diversity inclusion (DEI) on campus.