US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has ordered embassies to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as it prepares to expand social media vetting of such applicants.<\/p>\n
In a copy of a memo sent to diplomatic posts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the pause would last \u201cuntil further guidance is issued\u201d.<\/p>\n
The message said social media vetting would be stepped up for student and foreign exchange visas, which would have \u201csignificant implications\u201d for embassies and consulates.<\/p>\n
It comes amid Trump\u2019s feud with some of America\u2019s most elite colleges, which he believes are too left-wing. He says some of them have enabled antisemitism on campus and uphold discriminatory admissions policies.<\/p>\n
The state department memo, viewed by the BBC\u2019s US partner CBS News, directed US embassies on Tuesday to remove any unfilled appointments from their calendars for students seeking visas, but said those with appointments already scheduled could go ahead.<\/p>\n
The diplomatic cable also said the state department was preparing for an \u201cexpansion of required social media screening and vetting\u201d applicable to all student visa applications.<\/p>\n
Foreign students who want to study in the US are usually required to schedule interviews at an American embassy in their home country before approval.<\/p>\n
Many institutions rely on foreign students for a significant chunk of their funding, as they often pay higher tuition fees.<\/p>\n
When asked about student visas, state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters on Tuesday: \u201cWe take very seriously the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country, and we\u2019re going to continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
https:\/\/emp.bbc.com\/emp\/SMPj\/2.56.13\/iframe.htmlWatch: US to use \u201cevery tool\u201d to decide who enters country, says Tammy Bruce<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for universities and moved to deport students, while revoking thousands of visas for others. Many of these actions have been blocked by the courts.<\/p>\n
The White House has accused some US universities of allowing pro-Palestinian activism on campus to be hijacked by antisemitism.<\/p>\n
Colleges have accused the Trump administration of trying to infringe upon free speech rights.<\/p>\n
Harvard University has been the focal point of President Donald Trump\u2019s ire. Last week, the Trump administration revoked Harvard\u2019s ability to enrol international students or host foreign researchers. A federal judge blocked the policy.<\/p>\n
If the measure is allowed, it could deliver a devastating blow to the university, where more than a quarter of students are foreign.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has ordered embassies to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as it prepares to expand social media vetting of such applicants. In a copy of a memo sent to diplomatic posts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the pause would last \u201cuntil further guidance is issued\u201d. The message said social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}