After a three-week freeze, the U.S. has resumed student visa appointments, but will tighten its social media vetting in a bid to identify applicants who may be hostile towards the United States, according to an internal State Department cable.
Foreign students hoping to study in the U.S. must make their social media accounts public for officers to review as part of the application process.
U.S. consular officers are now required to conduct a “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of all student and exchange visitor applicants to identify those who “bear hostile attitudes toward our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles,” said the cable, which was dated June 18 and sent to U.S. missions.
The notice instructs applicants for F, M, and J visas to adjust their social media profile privacy settings to “public.”
U.S. paused student visa appointments
The Trump administration had halted the scheduling of new student visa appointments in late May. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a cable obtained by news outlets that the department was planning to issue updated guidance on social media vetting of student and exchange visitor applicants after a review is completed and advised consular sections to halt the scheduling of such visa appointments.
“The Department is conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa applicants, and based on that review, plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applicants,” the cable said.
“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consulate sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity until the guidance is issued,” it added.
A U.S. official had said that the suspension was intended to be temporary and did not apply to applicants who had scheduled their visa interviews already.
This move comes amid the Trump Administration’s crackdown on universities, including by targeting international students, as part of its wide-ranging efforts to fulfill his hardline immigration agenda.
Student visa processing reopened
As of June 18, 2025, the U.S. State Department has resumed student and exchange visitor visa appointments but now requires a review of applicants’ entire online presence, not just social media accounts.
Consular officers are to conduct a “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of all applicants applying for F, M and J visas. “To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M and J non-immigrant visas will be asked to adjust the privacy settings on all their social media profiles to ‘public’,” State department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters. “The enhanced social media vetting will ensure we are properly screening every single person attempting to visit our country. We take very seriously the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country, and we’re going to continue to do that,” he added.
The new vetting, the cable states, is being implemented to ensure “that aliens seeking admission to the United States are screened and vetted to the maximum extent possible and that they will respect the terms of their admission to the United States.”
It further states that such vetting is particularly important for these applicants, noting that “the FBI has long warned that foreign powers seek access to American higher education institutions to, among other things, steal technical information, exploit U.S. research and development, and spread false information for political or other reasons.”
This comes after the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in April, stated that it would consider antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests.
How would this play out?
Consulates are required to implement the new procedures within five business days, but the new criteria applies to both new applicants as well as to cases currently in progress—students who are awaiting their interviews, have been interviewed but who have not yet been approved, and those whose interviews have been waived.
Consular officers are to ask applicants to make all of their social media accounts public, “Remind the applicant that limited access to….online presence could be construed as an effort to evade or hide certain activity,” the cable said.
Failure to allow access to social profiles could be grounds for rejection. Consular officers have also been instructed to look for any indication of “hostility” toward the U.S. or its people, although it did not provide further details of what exactly that could mean.
Officers are urged to use “any appropriate search engines or other online resources” to look for derogatory information. For example, if an applicant has publicly endorsed Hamas or its activities, it “may be a reason for ineligibility.”
In reopening the visa process, the State Department told consulates to prioritize students hoping to enroll at colleges where foreigners make up less than 15% of the student body.
This could disadvantage students bound for nearly 200 U.S. universities, including all Ivy League schools and major public research institutions because according to an Associated Press analysis from 2023, international students comprise more than 15% of the total student body at around 200 universities across the country, including all eight Ivy League colleges, and more than 15% of the undergraduate student body at around 100 universities.
In addition, the directive has also asked posts to prioritize visa appointments of foreign-born physicians participating in a medical program through exchange visas.
A State Department spokesperson told The New York Times that “all available technology” is being used to screen applicants and visa holders, including using any appropriate search engines, online resources, or databases to which the consular section has access. Although, the agency has not clarified whether artificial intelligence is involved.
It is unclear if embassies and consulates will be able to process as many visas as before given the new vetting standards.
Rubio, Trump’s top diplomat and national security adviser, has said he has revoked the visas of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, including students, because they got involved in activities that he said went against U.S. foreign policy priorities.
He has announced plans to “aggressively revoke” more, particularly those held by Chinese nationals or anyone tied to what the administration views as anti-American activity.
“It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump Administration is doing every single day,” a senior State Department official said.
What categories of student visas are affected?
The guidelines will impact all applicants who apply for F visas, which are primarily used by students.
Applicants for the M visas, used for vocational students, and the J visas, used by exchange students, will also be impacted, according to a State Department spokesperson.
This means that all applicants for F, M, and J visas are now required to set their social media profiles to “public” so that U.S. consular officers can review their activity.
While the new directive allows posts to resume scheduling for student and exchange visa applicants, it is warning the officers that there may have to be fewer appointments due to the demands of more extensive vetting.
“Posts should consider overall scheduling volume and the resource demands of appropriate vetting; posts might need to schedule fewer FMJ cases than they did previously,” the cable said, referring to the relevant visa types.
Worried about your student visa application? Talk to an expert student visa attorney
The resumption of student visa interviews is welcome news for thousands of international students who have been anxiously waiting to finalize travel and housing plans before the academic year begins. However, the new vetting requirements add a layer of uncertainty and potential risk.
For those preparing for a visa interview, this means it’s no longer enough to organize documents and transcripts. The digital self—the version of you that lives online—must now be reviewed just as carefully.
Applicants should take time to review their social media with fresh eyes. Look through the lens of someone who doesn’t know you but is required to make a judgment about your values and plans. That does not mean you must erase your personality or silence your opinions. But it does mean being intentional about the way your digital presence might be read.
If you are planning to apply for a U.S. visa (F, M or J) or are already in the process, this potential policy change may affect your timeline and required documentation. Our immigration law team at The Law Office of Anne Z. Sedki is closely monitoring this development.
If you have concerns about how this might impact your visa application, you can contact us on +1-516-540-7948 or fill out this form to schedule a personalized consultation with one of our experienced immigration attorneys.