Applicants will be vetted for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.”

U.S. diplomats have officially been directed to screen the social media and online presence of all foreign nationals applying for student and other educational visas, according to a State Department cable issued Wednesday and obtained by POLITICO.

In the cable, consular officers are directed to review applicants’ online presence for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.” The cable also instructs embassies to flag any “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security” and “support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.”

Support for the Hamas militant group is listed as a specific example.

The cable appears to be the latest salvo in the Trump administration’s efforts to punish American colleges and universities for their handling of pro-Palestinian protests on campus and root out what it alleges is rampant antisemitism and liberalism at elite institutions of higher learning. It also comes as the Trump administration seeks to limit pathways to legal immigration to the United States in tandem with its crackdown on undocumented migrants on U.S. soil.

The cable directs consular officers to flag “applicants who demonstrate a history of political activism” and directs them to “consider the likelihood they would continue such activity in the United States.”

It states that this screening will apply for both new and returning student visa applicants. Consular officers must take “detailed case notes” about their review of applicants’ online presences and “take screenshots to preserve the record against possible later alteration or loss of the information.”

“Online presence” is defined as more than social media activity, and includes information in online databases, including LexisNexis.

None of the factors specified in the cable would immediately amount to ineligibility to receive a visa under U.S. law, but the cable says discovery of such online content should trigger additional review so consular officers can determine whether an applicant will respect U.S. laws and “engage only in activities consistent with his nonimmigrant visa status.”

The cable was previously reported by The Free Press.

POLITICO reported in May that the State Department was weighing expanding existing social media screening for some student visa applicants to all such applicants and widening the scope of what it looked for when doing such screenings. At the time, the department also ordered diplomatic outposts to pause scheduling new student visa interviews.

Later that month, the department launched a screening program for visa applicants looking to study, teach, research or participate in educational programs at Harvard University. The cable launching that program, which the State Department described as a “pilot” for a broader program of screening visa applicants, did not specifically outline what constituted a potentially “derogatory” online social media presence.

Wednesday’s cable says embassies can resume scheduling student visa interviews but that they should do so in a way that accounts for the increased workload that will come with the additional screening efforts. Embassies should prioritize interviewing physicians applying for a “J-1” visa for educational exchange and students looking to “study at a U.S. university where international students constitute 15 percent or less of the total student population” for visa interviews, the cable added.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/18/social-media-screening-student-visas-00413160