Photo: Chinese students wait outside the U.S. Embassy for their visa application interviews, in Beijing on May 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, File)
U.S. diplomats and consular officers have been directed to perform reviews of the online presence of all applicants for student and exchange visitor visas, The Epoch Times learned on June 18.
The development comes roughly three weeks after a senior State Department official confirmed to The Epoch Times that it had ordered American embassies worldwide to pause student visa interviews as the agency works to enhance its vetting process.
In an internal cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and leaked to the media on May 27, the agency said it was considering making strict social media vetting a requirement for all foreign students applying to study in the United States.
On Wednesday, The Epoch Times learned that student visa interviews have resumed but that all applicants will be asked to set their social media accounts to public, and that failure to do so could be interpreted as an effort to hide certain online activity.
Consular officers are also directed to review social media activity for signs of the applicant having possible disdain for the United States and its government, citizens, culture, founding principles, or institutions.
These changes will affect any applicants for the student (F), vocational (M), and exchange visitor (J) visas and are intended to bolster national security.
When the State Department paused student visa interviews late last month, agency spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the Trump administration takes “very seriously the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country.”
“We’ve always vetted people trying to come in. We’ve always looked at visas seriously,” she said. “Whether they be students, or if you’re a tourist who needs a visa, or whoever you are, we’re going to be looking at you.”
The very next day, Rubio announced that the United States would begin revoking visas for Chinese students, including any with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in “critical fields.”
In a short statement, the State Department confirmed that it would work with the Department of Homeland Security to “aggressively revoke” the visas while revising visa criteria to “enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications” from China and Hong Kong.
The State Department has accused the Chinese regime of monitoring its students abroad and mobilizing them through the Chinese Students and Scholars Association. Some of that group’s U.S. branches have openly admitted to being directed, supported, or financed by Chinese consulates.
Emel Akan and T.J. Muscaro contributed to this report.
