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The Trump administration has directed U.S. consular services around the world to resume student visa interviews with instructions for thorough screening of candidates’ social media presence.
Previously, on May 27, the State Department halted student visa interviews to allow for expanded social media screening. Reuters reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent the new directive to American consular missions worldwide in a cable dated June 18.
The cable instructed officers to be on the lookout for “applicants who demonstrate a history of political activism, especially when it is associated with violence or with the views and activities described above, you must consider the likelihood they would continue such activity in the United States.”
Visa applicants can also be asked to make their social media accounts public and available for review by consular officers. Failure to comply will be viewed as an attempt to “evade or hide certain activity” and might result in a rejection of the visa.
The new directive also instructs consulates to consider scheduling fewer F, M, and J visa appointments to allow for extensive social media vetting and to expedite applications of candidates going to schools where international students constitute fewer than 15% of the student body.
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