Foreign students in US must keep social media profiles public for duration of visa, says embassy

All international students seeking to study in the United States must keep their social media profiles public not just while applying for a visa but also during the period that the visa is valid, The Indian Express reported on Sunday.

“All student and exchange visitor visa applicants [F, M and J visa classes] are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of personal social media profiles to ‘public’ in order to facilitate vetting necessary to establish the applicant’s admissibility to the United States,” the newspaper quoted a US Embassy spokesperson in New Delhi as saying.

The spokesperson said that the vetting process goes on from the time of the application, through the adjudication on the visa and during the validity of the visa.

In June, the United States government announced that all student and exchange visitor visa applicants will need to unlock their social media profiles to allow them to be reviewed.

The US Department of State had said that under new norms that had been framed for handling student visa applications, the government would conduct a “comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence,” of all student and exchange visitor applicants.

In May, the Donald Trump administration had told US embassies worldwide to stop scheduling appointments for student visas until “further guidance” was issued. The United States...

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