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The Free Press
EXCLUSIVE: Student Visa Applicants with ‘Hostile Attitudes’ Will Be Told They Can’t Come to the U.S.
EXCLUSIVE: Student Visa Applicants with ‘Hostile Attitudes’ Will Be Told They Can’t Come to the U.S.
Graduates from Northeastern University hold up flags at their 2017 commencement in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 5, 2017. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The State Department will start reviewing social media ‘to make America and its universities safer.’
By Maya Sulkin
06.18.25 — Education
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The Free Press
The Free Press
EXCLUSIVE: Student Visa Applicants with ‘Hostile Attitudes’ Will Be Told They Can’t Come to the U.S.

State Department employees who review applications from foreign citizens for student and exchange visas will be told to review their social media posts and search for signs that they “bear hostile attitudes toward our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles,” according to a document obtained exclusively by The Free Press.

The instructions are being announced today and will be sent to consular offices in a cable, the State Department’s official channel of communication.

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an order to temporarily halt interviews with foreign citizens applying for student and exchange visas. That move was part of the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown against antisemitism at U.S. colleges and universities. The new instructions will allow interviews to resume—with new screening requirements that tell consular officers exactly what to look for.

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Maya Sulkin
Maya Sulkin is a reporter at The Free Press. Before that, Maya was chief of staff. She started as an intern in 2021 while a student at Columbia University.
Tags:
Immigration
Columbia
Politics
Policy
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