US halts student visa interviews globally amid tighter social media vetting

In a sweeping move to tighten immigration controls, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered American embassies worldwide to halt scheduling new interviews for student and exchange visitor visas. (A file photo)
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PAUL NORONHA/businessline

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered US embassies worldwide to stop scheduling interviews for student visas as the Trump administration weighs stricter vetting of applicants’ social-media profiles.

The directive, laid out in a cable sent to diplomats worldwide on Tuesday, marks the latest effort by the administration to restrict foreign students’ entry to American schools over claims that they might threaten US national security or promote antisemitism.

“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued,” Rubio wrote. He said that guidance is expected in the coming days.

The cable says interviews that have already been scheduled can go ahead. It was reported earlier by Politico.

The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Rubio had foreshadowed further restrictions in March after plainclothes police arrested Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk outside her home. Öztürk, who helped write an op-ed supporting Gazans, was later freed on bail as she fights possible deportation.

“If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason you are coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus—we’re not going to give you a visa,” Rubio said at the time. 

Tuesday’s move comes days after DHS sought to block Harvard University from enrolling international students last week — an effort that was swiftly halted by a federal judge on Friday. The administration is also moving to cancel all remaining federal contracts with Harvard, which total about $100 million, and Trump on Monday threatened to divert billions in grant dollars away from the university.

Last week on Fox Business, Kevin O’Leary, who teaches at Harvard Business School, recommended a vetting process for foreign students, while praising them for intellect and patriotism.

“These students are extraordinary individuals and they don’t hate America,” he said. “Why don’t we vet them first, check their backgrounds, clear them, and tell them, ‘You graduate Harvard, you’re an engineer or whatever, you stay here and you start a business here and you’ll get funded here and you’ll create jobs here because that’s why you came here in the first place.’”

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Published on May 27, 2025