It appears the State Department is preparing to vet the social media accounts of foreign students who want to attend college in the U.S. before granting them visas.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered all U.S. embassies to stop scheduling new interviews for certain visas, including those used by international students.
Rubio’s message, which was sent via cable to all the U.S. embassies, said that “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 septel, which we anticipate in the coming days.”
Politico, which obtained the cable, noted that “Septel” is State Department shorthand for “separate telegram.”
Although the cable notes the White house wants a potential student’s social media accounts to be considered when granting visas, Politico pointed out that it did not specifically list the criteria that would be used to judge a visa.
