Prime Highlights :
The U.S. halted scheduling new interviews for student visas temporarily to step up applicant screening, such as scrutinizing their social media.
The action comes as part of wider Trump-era efforts to tighten immigration and national security procedures.
Key Facts :
More than 270,000 Indian students have brought in $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2024.
Student visas and SEVIS records in thousands were revoked as a result of heightened scrutiny.
Key Background :
In a reflection of a broad policy shift, the U.S. government temporarily suspended scheduling new student and exchange visa interviews. In its implementation at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world, this action is part of the Trump administration’s increased emphasis on national security and immigration enforcement.
America is now applying “every available tool” within its resources to screen candidates entering the nation, especially international students, the State Department reports. Most significant in this new policy is the heightened screening of applicants’ use of social media, a technique applied more forcefully since the administration called for more intense screening of foreign nationals.
The initiative, commonly referred to as “Catch and Revoke,” uses advanced surveillance technology alongside artificial intelligence to scan web content. It is used with the aim of determining relations to terrorist organizations or ideologies, notably whether there are any such relations with Hamas. This has already resulted in the cancellation of thousands of student visas, as well as the SEVIS records being deactivated — all measures that have affected a broad range of students enrolled at U.S. institutions.
This latest wave of enforcement has been a source of concern for teachers and immigration activists alike, who believe that the absence of transparency into the review process for social media will result in arbitrary rejections. Additionally, universities are also concerned that these measures would discourage good Indian and Chinese students, who have been among the biggest sources of international students in the United States. Since Indian students by themselves contributed billions to the U.S. economy last year, the policy has the potential to affect American higher education institutions and their competitiveness at large.
