July 26, 2025
The U.S. State Department will start scheduling appointments again for international student visas. However, they will now require all applicants to make their social media accounts public so they can check them more closely. Officials have been told to look carefully at social media for any signs that applicants might be against the people, culture, government, or important values of the United States.
Last May, the Trump administration stopped scheduling student visa appointments while it worked on stricter rules to block applicants seen as a threat to the US. These new rules will affect everyone applying for F visas, which are mostly for students.
The new rules will also affect applicants for M visas (for vocational students) and J visas (for exchange students), a State Department spokesperson said. If applicants keep their social media accounts private, it might look like they are trying to hide something, the department said. A senior State Department official said, “American citizens expect their government to do everything it can to keep the country safe, and that’s what the Trump Administration is doing every day.”
What are officers looking for?
According to internal instructions shared with consular officers and reported by the Associated Press, staff are told to watch for any signs that applicants might be hostile toward the people, culture, government, or important values of the United States.
In May, the Trump administration temporarily stopped scheduling new visa interviews for foreign students, leaving many students around the world waiting nervously for consulates to start booking again.
With less time left to plan their travel and housing before school starts, students from countries like China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines have been sharing on social media that they keep refreshing visa booking websites and watching State Department news for any updates on when applications will reopen.
Officers have also been told to watch out for people who support terrorists, threaten national security, or commit illegal anti-Jewish harassment or violence. This is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to crack down on some of America’s top universities.
President Trump believes these schools are too left-wing and has accused them of not stopping anti-Jewish actions during pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. His crackdown includes freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to universities, deporting some students, and taking away visas, but many of these actions have been blocked by courts.
Harvard University is one of the schools affected — it had $2.65 billion in federal grants frozen. Trump also tried to stop Harvard from accepting international students, but a judge temporarily blocked that decision.
More than 1.1 million international students from over 210 countries studied at US colleges in the 2023-24 school year, according to Open Doors, a group that tracks foreign students.
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