US asks student, exchange visitor visa applicants to make social media accounts public

THe United States embassy in bharat on mon asked applicants for ternion types of non-immigrant visas to the US to do their societal media accounts public in order to allow enhanced vetting.“Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J (Student: academic, vocational or Exchange visitor) nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to public to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. Law,” the US Embassy in New Delhi said in a post on X.The embassy said the US has required visa applicants to provide social media identifiers on immigrant and non-immigrant visa application forms since 2019. “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 US national security,” the embassy added.The decision to tighten its social media vetting follows an earlier move by America’s State Department on May 27 to pause scheduling new student visa interviews. According to several reports, the Trump administration ordered the pause to allow for extensive and expanded vetting of the applicants’ social media accounts. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at the time that America will use “every tool in our tool chest to vet anyone coming in, who wants to come into this country”.The recent restrictions stem from a persistent political clash between the Trump administration and leading American universities. Trump and his supporters have alleged that these institutions promote biased diversity initiatives and fail to address antisemitism on campus.The administration has revoked student visas for numerous individuals, many of whom participated in political demonstrations — often related to pro-Palestinian causes.Two Indian students were also affected. Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University PhD student, was detained by American authorities on allegations of ties to Hamas. Ranjani Srinivasan, a scholar at Columbia University, saw her visa revoked following accusations of “supporting Hamas and terrorist activities.” Additional accounts surfaced at the time, suggesting that several Indian students also faced visa cancellations — these were often linked to minor violations.In response, universities have pushed back, rejecting these accusations and resisting proposed reforms. As a result, the administration has employed a range of measures — including withholding federal funding and restricting the admission of international students.