US embassies will no longer consider new applications for student visas after the Trump administration paused the process amid a probe into antisemitism on campus.
The administration has been locked in a long-running dispute with colleges over what it considers the far-left slant of higher education, specifically with regard to the widespread pro-Palestine protests that swept the sector last year.
Hundreds of international students have already had their visas revoked, while even green card holders have been detained for deportation in a string of high-profile cases.
And, last week, the Department of Homeland Security banned Harvard from accepting overseas students over “an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies”.
Now, though, a hold has been placed on all new applications for student visas across the board, with a memo from the State Department suggesting this will remain in place “until further guidance is issued”.
The memo stated that the pause would allow embassies to implement an “expansion of required social media screening and vetting” for applicants.
It has not been confirmed what the new procedures will be looking for but pro-Palestine social media activity has previously been cited by the administration in deportation proceedings, which it argued demonstrated support for “terrorist activities”.
Commenting on the visa process, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on Tuesday: “We take very seriously the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country, and we're going to continue to do that.
"We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that's coming here, whether they are students or otherwise.”
The restrictions could have a significant impact on university finances, with colleges increasingly enroling international students in recent years as they pay higher fees than their American counterparts.
This loss is likely to unbalance the books even further for several institutions – including Harvard, Princeton and Columbia – which have seen federal grant funding frozen by the administration.
Indeed, Harvard is currently suing the Education Department over the suspension of $2.2 billion in funding and, in a separate case, the prohibition on international student enrolment.
