June 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department has announced it will soon resume scheduling interviews for overseas visa applications, while stating that the screening process will now include social media vetting.
The State Department made the announcement Wednesday, after it had placed a hold on new interviews for foreign student visa applications last month amid the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration.
In Wednesday's statement, the State Department said that under the new guidance, it will "conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants." The process applies to F, M and J nonimmigrant classifications, it said.
"To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to 'public,'" it said.
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