The US State Department instructed all US diplomatic posts overseas in a cable sent on June 18 to resume interview scheduling for applicants for F, M, and J visas (i.e., student visas). The announcement ends a halt in visa processing that began on May 27 and continued into its fourth week.
In addition to resuming processing, the State Department cable instructs visa officers to check all student visa applicants’ online and social media accounts for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the US.” Additionally, officers are urged to keep an eye out for any “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security, support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.” They are also instructed to flag “applicants who demonstrate a history of political activism” and to take into account “the likelihood they would continue such activity in the United States.”
For students who intend to start their studies in the United States in the upcoming academic year, the system will now have to overcome the backlog of processing that has accumulated. The cable appears to foresee this while simultaneously acknowledging the extra workload that the enhanced screening procedures place on processing officers: After these [new procedures for improved screening] are put into place, posts should start scheduling FMJ visa applications on a regular basis again. Posts may need to plan fewer FMJ cases than they did in the past, but they should take into account the overall volume of scheduling as well as the resource requirements of proper vetting.
The screening process seems to be intended to cover all online presences, including publishing and inclusion in online databases, in addition to social media. It is advised that applicants make all social media account settings “public” in order to facilitate the extra screening. In order to preserve those records, cops must also keep screenshots of any content that raises concerns. Both new and returning visa applications will now be subject to this improved vetting, the cable also states.
The applicant is not necessarily disqualified from obtaining a US visa if the screening process reveals any such problems. However, it is up to the processing officer to decide if the applicant is likely to follow US law and “engage only in activities consistent with his non- immigrant visa status.”
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