Student visa applicants advised to tread lightly as U.S. expands social media vetting

CBS News

2 days ago

Counselors who work with foreign students eager to attend college in the U.S. are advising them to purge their social media accounts of posts that could attract the attention of U.S. State Department officials.
"Any new student who comes on board — especially an international student who doesn't have a U.S. passport — we would be going through their social media with them and talk to them about what they are saying on Snapchat, in group chats," said Kat Cohen, founder and CEO of IvyWise, an educational consultancy firm for college admissions. "Because, if the information comes off as being radical or anti-American in some way, it is not going to help them."
The focus on international students' online profiles follows a new push by the Trump administration to scrutinize social media accounts as part of the evaluation process for student visa applications. In a cable dated May 27 and obtained by CBS News, the State Department said it was preparing to expand social media screening and vetting. The agency did not specify exactly what type of content it would be looking for.
"President Trump will always put the safety of Americans first, and it is a privilege, not a right, to study in the United States," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. "Enhanced social media vetting is a commonsense measure that will help ensure that guests in our country are not planning to harm Americans, which is a national security priority."
The new vetting measures build upon an April statement from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announcing that the agency will be taking into account "antisemitic activity on social media" as "grounds for denying immigration benefit requests."
No politics
Advisers who cater to international students applying to U.S. schools told CBS Moneywatch they are reluctant to advise them to delete their social media accounts outright. But they are urging students to eliminate political-themed posts, especially if they relate to controversial topics such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. IvyWise also discourages foreign students from reposting any information they haven't verified themselves, given that it might be inaccurate.
"We don't think students should delete their social media accounts completely," Cohen said. "But we do need to make sure we go through their social media accounts with them to make sure that they are presenting themselves in the best possible light."
Mandee Heller Adler, founder of International College Counselors, also recommends that students weed out potentially controversial posts, including any opinions or content related to politics.
"I'm not saying that they have to get rid of the whole thing altogether, but certainly delete any political posts," Adler told CBS MoneyWatch. "This is kind of an easy way for kids to protect themselves."
Sasha Chada, who has led Texas-based college admissions counseling group Ivy Scholars for over a decade, said that asking students to delete their social media would be a "tall order" given how deeply ingrained the platforms are in their lives. Over half of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 34 report using TikTok, according to Pew Research.
Chilling effect?
Some critics think the State Department's scrutiny of international students' social accounts will inhibit their freedom of expression.
"While social media vetting of visa applicants isn't new, should the administration's 'expanded vetting' consider political viewpoints, it will certainly scare some would-be applicants into silencing themselves on any topic they feel might contradict the views of President Trump, or his successors," said Robert Shibley, special counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which promotes free speech on college campuses.
The State Department did not respond to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment. "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," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters this week, when asked about student visas.
Mahsa Khanbabai, an immigration attorney based in Massachusetts whose firm assists with student visas, said she has spoken to dozens of foreign students — both overseas and in the U.S. — some of whom have decided to delete their social media accounts or change them from public to private for protection.
Students, she said, are not just concerned about posts on political flashpoints like Gaza, but also their personal views on topics like climate change and reproductive rights advocacy. Recent consultations Khanbabai has had with foreign students have been focused, she said, on helping them determine how strongly they feel about publicizing their views, and giving them a sense of the potential trade-offs when deciding to post or not to post.
"I meet with students to ask them, 'Are you willing to pause engagement on social media to achieve longer-term goals like your career and education, knowing that in the short term you're ultimately kind of maybe sacrificing some of your ethical or moral values?'" she said.