- Wednesday, June 04, 2025
The Trump administration’s move to halt new student visa interviews has triggered widespread uncertainty among students worldwide, including in India
By: India Weekly
AMID growing concerns over the Trump administration’s move to halt new student visa interviews, India has urged the US to consider visa applications of Indian students on merit.
The pause in interviews has triggered widespread uncertainty among students worldwide, including in India.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the welfare of Indian students abroad remains of “utmost priority” of the government of India.
“While we note that issuance of visa is a sovereign function, we hope that the application of Indian students will be considered on merit,” he said.
He hoped that the Indian students could join their academic programs in the US on time.
There have been concerns among the students planning to pursue studies in the US over the Trump administration’s plan to expand social media vetting of student visa applicants.
Jaiswal said about 330,000 Indian students were in the US in 2023-24.
The Trump administration has ordered its missions abroad to stop scheduling new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants as the State Department prepares to expand social media vetting of foreign students.
According to media reports, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said the department plans to issue updated guidance on social media vetting of student and exchange visitor applicants after a review is completed and advised consular sections to halt the scheduling of such visa appointments.
The move comes as the Trump administration has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of its wide-ranging efforts to fulfill his hardline immigration agenda.
Several hundred protesters, including Harvard University students and professors, demonstrated in support of foreign students at the Harvard campus on Tuesday (27), while also protesting Trump administration efforts to cut off funding to the university.
In an internal cable, first reported by Politico, Rubio said appointments that have already been scheduled can proceed under the current guidelines, but available appointments not already taken should be pulled down.
“The Department is conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa applicants, and based on that review, plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applicants,” the cable said.
A senior State Department official confirmed the accuracy of the cable.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the US will use “every tool” to vet anyone who wants to enter the United States.
“We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that’s coming here, whether they are students or otherwise,” Bruce told reporters at a regular news briefing.
The expanded social media vetting will require consular sections to modify their operations, processes and allocation of resources, according to the cable, which advises the sections going forward to take into consideration the workload and resource requirements of each case before scheduling them.
The cable also advises consular sections to remain focused on services for U.S. citizens, immigrant visas and fraud prevention.
Trump administration officials have said student visa and green card holders are subject to deportation over their support for Palestinians and criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, calling their actions a threat to U.S. foreign policy and accusing them of being pro-Hamas.
Trump’s critics have called the effort an attack on free speech rights under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
A Tufts University student from Turkey was held for over six weeks in an immigration detention center in Louisiana after co-writing an opinion piece criticizing her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza. She was released from custody after a federal judge granted her bail.
Last week, the Trump administration moved to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. Those roughly 6,800 students make up about 27 per cent of Harvard’s total enrollment.
The administration has moved to undermine the financial stability and global standing of the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university after it pushed back on government demands for vast changes to its policies. (Agencies)
