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3h ago

US Restarts Student Visa Processing, Imposes Public Social Media Requirement

The new transparency rule aims to uncover hostile attitudes in applicants’ online presence under tighter security screening protocols

Chinese students wait outside the U.S. Embassy for their visa application interviews, in Beijing on May 2, 2012.
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Inset: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio poses during a meeting with the Kazakhstan deputy prime minister and foreign minister in the Treaty Room of the State Department in Washington, DC on June 12, 2025. Main: An employee checks phones as pro-Palestinian supporters hold picket line outside Columbia University, Tuesday, Sep. 3, 2024, in New York.

Overview

  • Student visa processing resumed on June 18 after a month-long suspension while new screening measures were finalized.
  • Applicants for student and exchange visitor visas must now make all their social media profiles public for comprehensive online screening.
  • Consular officers are tasked with reviewing applicants’ full online presence for content deemed hostile to US citizens, culture, government or founding principles.
  • Applicants who refuse to grant social media access or appear to evade the process risk having their visa applications rejected.
  • Academic freedom advocates warn the policy risks chilling political speech and targeting campus activism.