It appears the State Department is preparing to vet the social media accounts of foreign students who want to attend college in the U.S. before granting them visas.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered all U.S. embassies to stop scheduling new interviews for certain visas, including those used by international students.
Rubio’s message, which was sent via cable to all the U.S. embassies, said that “effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel, which we anticipate in the coming days.”
Politico, which obtained the cable, noted that “Septel” is State Department shorthand for “separate telegram.”
Although the cable notes the White house wants a potential student’s social media accounts to be considered when granting visas, Politico pointed out that it did not specifically list the criteria that would be used to judge a visa.
The policy change comes amid the president’s war on elite educational institutions like Harvard, which he claims is not doing enough to stop on-campus antisemitism, a term he defines to include support for Palestinians in Gaza.
In addition to students, the new guidelines would apply to exchange visitors, such as visiting interns, au pairs, instructors and others.
The changes would not only slow down the visa process for students, it could also financially impact universities that receive tuition from foreign students.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press the suspension of interviews will be temporary and won’t affect applicants who have already scheduled interviews for student visas.
Rubio’s directive comes after the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, a move that was quickly blocked by a federal judge.
The administration has also revoked the legal status of thousands of international students already in the U.S., leading some to leave the country out of deportation fears.
Preliminary court rulings appeared to favor the students’ rights in many cases, and the government reacted by expanding the grounds for terminating international students’ legal status.
