US President Donald Trump's administration has paused new foreign student interviews at embassies and consulates around the world as it weighs requiring the vetting of applicants' social media histories.
The directive, first reported on by Politico, was sent to US diplomatic and consular posts abroad and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
If the administration goes through with the plan, it could severely slow down student visa processing, and ultimately hurt universities that rely heavily on foreign students' tuition fees.
In 2023-24, the US hosted an all-time high of 1.1 million international students. About 90,000 are from the Arab World, according to estimates, while more than 300,000 are Indian.
Consular officers have, since March, been required to conduct mandatory social media reviews looking for evidence of support for “terrorist activity or a terrorist organisation”, which could be as broad as showing support for the Palestinian cause, according to The Guardian, quoting a department message.
"It seems to be such a controversial thing that’s going on, but it shouldn’t be, and every nation should take seriously … who’s coming in, so if you’re going to be applying for a visa, follow the normal process, then all the steps, expect to be looked at and we go on from there," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
"It is a goal, as stated by the President and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio, to make sure that people who are here are here and understand what the law is, that they don’t have any criminal intent, that they are going to be contributors to the experience here, however short or long their stay is."
Critics warned that the move is likely to make bright foreign students look elsewhere for their studies.
“The Sergey Brins of the world came as students and did wonders for the US economy,” Raghuram Raja, former Reserve Bank of India Governor, told Bloomberg TV, pointing to one of the founders of Google.
He warned that squeezing foreign students could impact job growth, noting that companies like Google employ thousands, thanks in part to immigration-linked talent pipelines.
Last week, business tycoon Kevin O’Leary, a Trump ally, recommended a vetting process for foreign students, while praising them for intellect and patriotism.
“These students are extraordinary individuals, and they don’t hate America,” he told Fox Business.
Campus crackdown
US immigration authorities announced last month that social media activity perceived to be anti-Semitic, as well as the "physical harassment of Jewish" people, would be grounds for denying applicants visas and permanent residency.
Since Mr Trump returned to office in January, his administration has taken aim at foreign students who participated in campus pro-Palestine protests that swept the country last year. The State Department has revoked hundreds of student visas so far and Mr Rubio has said that more are still to come.
Universities that saw large protests, such as Columbia in New York, have come into the administration's crosshairs.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has asked federal agencies to cancel contracts worth about $100 million with Harvard University.
The government has already cancelled more than $2.3 billion in federal research grants for the Ivy League school, which has opposed the administration's demands for changes to several of its policies.
A draft letter from the General Services Administration, first reported by The New York Times, directs agencies to review contracts with the university and seek alternatives. The administration plans to send a version of the letter on Tuesday, AP reported.
Mr Trump said on Monday that he was considering rerouting $3 billion in grants to trade schools.
The administration has identified about 30 contracts across nine agencies to be reviewed for cancellation, AP reported, quoting an administration official.
The contracts include executive training for Department of Homeland Security officials, research on health results related to energy drinks, and a contract for graduate student research services.
The letter is the latest move by Mr Trump to end the long-standing relationship between the US government and Harvard, which he has accused of engaging in discriminatory admissions practices, promotion of liberal bias and allowing the proliferation of anti-Semitism.
So far, his administration has moved to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for Harvard and banned it from admitting foreign students – ordering all enrolled foreign students to find courses at other universities or leave the country. A judge has since issued a temporary stay on the ban.
“We are still waiting for the foreign student lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of billions of dollars, how many radicalised lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our country,” Mr Trump said on social media.
The DHS has demanded that Harvard turn over files related to its foreign students, including disciplinary records and documents related to “dangerous or violent activity”.
Harvard has said it complied, but the agency claimed its response fell short, leading to the ban on foreign student enrolment. The university has filed lawsuits to unfreeze the funding and remove the ban.
