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 announced the resumption of student visa interviews under new guidelines on June 18.

Under the new norms, consular officers were told to examine applications to identify those who “bear hostile attitudes toward our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles”, Reuters reported.

Data presented before the Indian Parliament showed that in 2024, there were 2,04,058 students in the United States, a drop of nearly 13% from the figure of 2,34,473 in 2023.

Also read: Around the world, students aiming to the study in US are scrubbing down their social media accounts