- Uncertainty grows for students as some receive visas mid-freeze and others see visa appointments cancelled.
- Stricter social media vetting policy currently only rolled out to Harvard students amid Donald Trump’s ongoing feud with the US’s oldest university, with possibility of being adopted nationwide in the future.
- Speculation grows about duration of the pause, as State Department spokesperson indicates it might end “sooner rather than later”.
US stakeholders have issued grave warnings about the State Department’s ongoing pause of the scheduling of new student visa interviews, urging the government to lift the freeze and end the uncertainty for students due to enrol in summer and fall cycles of 2025.
“We encourage the State Department to act expeditiously to implement any new vetting measures so new student visas can continue to be quickly and efficiently processed,” wrote the American Council on Education (ACE) president Ted Mitchell, in a letter to secretary of state Marco Rubio.
It comes after the administration ordered US consulates around the world to stop scheduling new visa appointments for international students while it expands its social media vetting processes, according to a State Department cable on May 27.
Currently, the policy has only been rolled out to prospective Harvard students, who are being vetted for antisemitism in what the state department has called a pilot project that could be rolled out nationwide, according to a cable obtained by Politico.
The letter, co-signed by 38 US organisations including the likes of NAFSA and the Presidents’ Alliance, emphasises the severe damage of the pause not only for students already due to come to the US, but also for the country’s international standing.
“We are concerned that imposing a broad pause on all student visas would send a message that our nation no longer welcomes talented students and scholars from other countries,” it said, while reaffirming the sector’s willingness to address the administration’s “security concerns” about international students.
Amid growing fears of an extended delay, Mitchell called on the State Department to “take proactive actions to quickly process student visa applications after the pause” in the lead up to the 2025/26 academic year.
Speaking to The PIE News at the NAFSA conference 2025, Presidents’ Alliance CEO Miriam Fledblum said the timing of the pause was particularly concerning, coming at peak time for students applying for visa interviews to give them time to arrive before the fall semester.
“Even if they quickly reverse course, already damage has been done. Those slots for visa interviews may no longer be available,” said Feldblum.
“This is not theoretical, this is not some time in the future. This is now and this is consequential,” she added.
NAFSA CEO, Fanta Aw, called Rubio’s order another “misguided” and “troubling” attack on international students in the US, which coincided with international stakeholders convening in San Diego for the first day of NAFSA 2025.
According to Rubio’s May 27 cable, the pause in visa interviews applied from the day it was announced “until further guidance” with stakeholders reassuring students who already had appointments that they would remain in place.
While some students have received visas since the pause, elsewhere visa appointments have been cancelled, with uncertainty growing each day the freeze continues.
This is not theoretical, this is not some time in the future. This is now and this is consequential.
Miriam Feldblum, Presidents’ Alliance
Stakeholders have bemoaned the lack of clarity and transparency of State Department communications, with Mitchell and the co-signatories on ACE’s letter appealing for clearer policy guidance from the government.
Meanwhile, a televised press briefing last week fuelled further speculation about the duration of the pause, after State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she thought the freeze would be lifted “sooner rather than later”.
“But [what] I’m told to encourage people to do is to regularly check to see when those spaces open, and I would not be recommending that if it was going to be weeks or months,” Bruce told reporters.
Learning from the administration’s past actions, Alliance for International Exchange CEO Mark Overmann urged NAFSA delegates to plan for the possibility of an extended freeze, reminding them about the previous apparent 15-day pause on study abroad funding, which lasted for nearly two months.
“We need to make clear about why this is so disruptive and how likely it is that it will cause chaos,” urged Feldblum. “What I hear from institutional leaders is we were very concerned about the decline in yield because of what has happened up to now.
“This will certainly just instil further uncertainty among prospective international students so we’re even more likely to see declines in acceptances,” she warned.
When pressed for more details, State Department officials maintained that social media vetting was not new: “Since 2019, the Department of State has required visa applicants to provide social media identifiers on immigrant and non-immigrant applications,” they said, referring all other questions to consular officials.
Despite this, recent months have seen “extreme vetting” of those who may have participated in pro-Palestinian protests, with the expectation that this will be rolled out to all international applicants down the line.
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