Donald Trump’s Administration renewed the student visa appointment and imposed stricter screening measures to identify potentially hostile candidates.
Restoration comes after Trump’s administration previously asked to stop planning new meetings for applicants for students and exchanges and stated that the Foreign Ministry is ready to explore measures to examine social media of foreign students.
These measures include thorough inspection of social media accounts and online presence of applicants, according to Reuters report, which quoted the cable of the internal state ministry sent by US missions on June 18.
Here’s all we know about the latest directive –
Consular offices in the US will perform a process of “comprehensive and thorough screening” for all applicants looking for visas of students and exchanges of visitors to identify individuals who “carry hostile attitudes towards our citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding” principles “.
The latest cable issued by US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio asked officers to check the officers “applicants who show the history of political activism, especially if it is associated with violence or the views and activities above, you must consider the probability that they would continue this activity in the United States.”
The cable also added: “Remind the applicant that limited access to …. online presence could be interpreted as an effort to avoid or hide a certain activity.”
This process involves reviewing the entire online presence of the applicant, which will not be limited to social media activity, said the cable and urged officers to use any “suitable search engines or other online sources”.
Officers will also look for any potentially derogatory information about the applicant. The priority will be given by the appointment of doctors born abroad who participates in the medical program through exchange visas and students who are applying for universities where international students make up less than 15% of the total.
Trump’s hit at Harvard University
The latest Trump Administration Directive comes in the middle of an intervention against the Harvard University regarding the alleged support of the Palestinian campus, as well as other questions, including climate initiatives, transgender policies and diversity, equal and inclusions.
What is the potential consequence?
The new Directive on the restoration of students of students and exchanges is likely to result in fewer meetings due to the need for more thorough examination.
(Tagstotranslate) student appointment of student visas
