New Delhi: Issuing visas is a sovereign issue for the US government, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said, hoping that the process will be completed in time for Indian students to join the US universities they have gained admission to this year.
US missions in India and around the world have temporarily paused scheduling new visa appointments as they await instructions from the State Department on how to enhance their screening of applicants’ social media profiles.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the welfare of students was of “utmost priority”. “We have seen reports suggesting the US government updated guidance regarding Student and Exchange Visitor visa applicants,” Jaiswal said at a weekly media briefing. “While we note that issuance of visa is a sovereign function, we hope that the application of Indian students will be considered on merit and they will be able to join their academic programmes on time,” he added.
Jaiswal also pointed out that more than 3,30,000 Indian students were studying in the US, as of 2023-24. Indians made up nearly 30% of the roughly 1.1 million international students in the US that year, the biggest bloc from any country.
Social media vetting is a process included by the Trump administration in the visa application process to assess students’ suitability to enter the United States. The platforms that go through this vetting are Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and TikTok, among others.
Students are not just deleting posts, fearing that their political jokes, views, and activism might be misinterpreted during visa interviews, but also entire accounts. Applicants fear that even a casual comment or harmless posts could be taken into consideration to reject their visa applications. Visa counsellors warn that liking or sharing content deemed inadmissible by US authorities could also lead to visa rejections. They also inform that such a sudden deletion could also raise eyebrows.
The US government is using artificial intelligence to identify and cancel visas of foreign students who “appear to support” terror groups.
