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US Resumes Student Visa Processing Under Mandatory Social Media Vetting

Applicants must set their social media profiles to public for consular officers to vet posts for hostility under new national security guidelines.

Chinese students wait outside the U.S. Embassy for their visa application interviews, in Beijing on May 2, 2012.
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.
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Overview

  • On June 18 the State Department lifted its late-May pause on student visa interviews and ordered embassies worldwide to implement the new screening rules
  • All F, M and J visa applicants are now required to make their social media accounts public or face possible rejection for evading review
  • Consular officers will examine social media and any online presence for signs of hostility toward US citizens, culture, government or support for designated terrorist groups
  • The vetting process extends beyond social media to include a review of applicants’ entire online presence using search engines and government databases
  • Civil rights advocates and education groups warn the policy could chill free speech and hinder thousands of international students’ plans