The U.S. government has decided to resume the process of issuing visas to foreign students and trainees entering the U.S., which was temporarily suspended.
According to the Associated Press and other sources, the State Department announced on the 18th that it has withdrawn its measures to suspend student visa-related procedures since May. “However, all applicants must disclose their social media accounts,” he said. “Consul officials will carefully monitor posts or messages that may be hostile to the U.S. and the government.”
In particular, those who do not allow access to their SNS account posts among new student visa applicants need to be cautious as they may be denied visa issuance. The U.S. State Department stressed that “under the new guidelines, consular officials (deployed to U.S. embassies and consulates abroad) will conduct a comprehensive and thorough review of all student and exchange visiting visa applicants.”
The new screening process applies to all international student visas, including F visa for academic purposes, M visa for vocational education, and J visa for educational and cultural exchange, and takes effect five days later. The U.S. State Department called on applicants to “open” the privacy settings of all SNS accounts for the review process, adding, “The enhanced SNS review will allow us to properly examine anyone who intends to visit our country.”
Earlier last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marko Rubio delivered a document to the consular department stating that the addition of student and exchange visitor visa interviews should be stopped immediately until a separate full text containing additional guidelines is released to prepare for “expanding SNS screening and verification.”
Of course, the issuance of entry visas to foreigners is the full power of sovereign states, but the U.S., which guarantees freedom of expression as a constitutional right, is expected to be controversial over the reason for visa rejection by foreigners’ past SNS posts. In particular, there is expected to be a debate over the “standard” of visa rejection for reasons of SNS posts.
SAM KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
