Kathmandu. The U.S. government has issued instructions to all its diplomatic missions to close the new schedule of student enrollment and exchange and visitor visa applications.
President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered its missions abroad to close the schedule of new appointments for students and exchange visitor visa applicants, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
According to another report, the State Department is preparing to expand social media checks of foreign students.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on cable that the Department plans to issue updated instructions about social media scrutiny of students and exchange visitor applicants after the review is complete.
The move comes as the Trump administration seeks to increase deportations and revoke student visas as part of its broader efforts to meet its radical immigration agenda.
In the cable first reported by Politico, Rubio says that appointments already scheduled can proceed under current guidelines, but applications that have not previously been accepted should be rejected.
“The department is reviewing existing operations and procedures for screening and screening of student and exchange visitor visa applicants, and based on that review, plans to issue guidance regarding extended social media checking for all such applicants” the cable said.
Extended social network checks will require consular segments to revise their operations, procedures and allocation of resources, according to Cable, which advises future-going segments to consider each case’s workload and resource requirements before scheduling them.
The cable also advises consular sections to stay focused on services for U.S. citizens, immigrant visas, and fraud prevention.
Last week, the Trump administration took steps to scrap Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. Those roughly 6,800 students account for about 27 percent of Harvard’s total enrollment.
