With the United States set to resume entertaining student visa applications “soon,” the State Department has directed its missions abroad to screen the social media and online presence of all educational visa applicants.
Reiterating that “a U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right,” the State Department announced Thursday that under new guidance, it will conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J nonimmigrant classifications.
To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public.”
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U.S. overseas posts will resume scheduling F, M, and J nonimmigrant visa applications soon, the announcement stated asking applicants to check the relevant embassy or consulate website for appointment availability.
All foreign nationals who apply for F visas for academic students, M visas for vocational students, and J visas for educational and cultural exchanges, will now go through this stricter vetting.
Asserting that “every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” the announcement stated, “the United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests, and that all applicants credibly establish their eligibility for the visa sought, including that they intend to engage in activities consistent with the terms for their admission.”
The State Department stated it is committed to protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through the visa process.
“We use all available information in our visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to U.S. national security,” it stated.
The State Department has currently suspended all educational visa appointments across its embassies in all countries to come up with a new set of rules for social media vetting.
Earlier, citing a State Department cable issued Wednesday, Politico reported that U.S. consular officers have been directed to review applicants’ online presence for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.”
The cable also instructs embassies to flag any “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security” and “support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.”
Support for the Hamas militant group is listed as a specific example. The cable directs consular officers to flag “applicants who demonstrate a history of political activism” and directs them to “consider the likelihood they would continue such activity in the United States.”
It states that this screening will apply for both new and returning student visa applicants. Consular officers must take “detailed case notes” about their review of applicants’ online presences and “take screenshots to preserve the record against possible later alteration or loss of the information.”
“Online presence” is defined as more than social media activity, and includes information in online databases, including LexisNexis.
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None of the factors specified in the cable would immediately amount to ineligibility to receive a visa under U.S. law, but the cable says discovery of such online content should trigger additional review so consular officers can determine whether an applicant will respect U.S. laws and “engage only in activities consistent with his nonimmigrant visa status.”
Wednesday’s cable, according to Politico says embassies can resume scheduling student visa interviews but that they should do so in a way that accounts for the increased workload that will come with the additional screening efforts.
Embassies should prioritize interviewing physicians applying for a “J-1” visa for educational exchange and students looking to “study at a U.S. university where international students constitute 15% or less of the total student population” for visa interviews, the cable added.