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US mandates public social media rule for student visas
The directive, effective immediately, is aimed at establishing applicants' identity and admissibility under U.S. immigration law.
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Malvika Choudhary - Mon, 23, Jun 2025
- 11:54 EDT
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Under the new process, consular officers are expected to perform an online presence review, including review of all social media, on all student and exchange visitor visa applicants. / Courtesy of Lalit K Jha
The United States has made it mandatory for all the students and exchange visitor visa applicants to make their personal social media profiles public.
All individuals applying under the F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa categories are required to make their personal social media accounts public effective immediately, the U.S. Embassy in India said.
Also Read: US to require student visa applicants to make social media profiles public
“Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their personal social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. law,” the embassy’s advisory said.
Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to public to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States… pic.twitter.com/xotcfc3Qdo
— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) June 23, 2025
“We use all available information in our visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to U.S. national security,” the embassy added. “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision.”
The latest instruction follows a broader policy update issued on June 18 by the U.S. State Department, which directed consular officers to conduct a “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of student and exchange visitor applicants, including a review of their online presence. These visa categories apply to academic, vocational, and cultural exchange programs.
Failure to comply may be interpreted as an attempt to conceal information. Officers have been instructed to look for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States.”
India is among the largest sources of international students in the U.S., with more than 268,000 Indian students enrolled in American institutions in 2023. The new policy is expected to impact thousands of prospective applicants.
The U.S. began collecting social media identifiers from visa applicants in 2019 as part of expanded vetting procedures introduced under the Trump administration. The State Department maintains that this information is used to determine whether an individual poses a national security threat or is otherwise inadmissible.
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