USA Student Visa Policy: The United States has resumed processing student visas following a brief halt in May, but with a twist that has been worrying thousands of Indian students.

The new policy adopted by the US State Department requires all visa applicants to grant access to their social media profiles during the vetting process. This involves revealing active handles and making profiles public.

Why it matters

The new regulation, intended to identify any pro-American hatred, terror connections, or antisemitic conduct, has generated significant concerns with regards to privacy and subjectivity. Even jokes or memes made about US culture could be labeled “hostile” on the basis of the judgment of consular officers. Indian students, the biggest contingent of overseas students in the US, are caught in the crux of sanitizing their digital lives.

“Even a meme can cost you”

Students voiced a concern shared widely across applicant communities: the growing burden of social media scrutiny. Many pointed out that they were already anxious about funding, deadlines, and documentation, and now, they also have to worry about old tweets from years ago. In response, students are conducting digital audits of their online presence, deleting potentially controversial posts, deactivating unused accounts, and ensuring that their social media profiles appear neutral and professional.

What’s fueling the anxiety is the vagueness of the new rules. They are still murky, providing consular officers with great latitude of interpretation.

Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to public to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States… pic.twitter.com/xotcfc3Qdo

— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) June 23, 2025

New era of digital censorship?

In an X post, the official account of the U.S. Embassy in India (@USAndIndia) posted the announcement saying, “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision. Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J non-immigrant visa are asked to change the privacy settings on all of their personal social media accounts to ‘public’ to enable vetting required to confirm their identity and admissibility to the United States.”It also reaffirmed that since 2019, the United States has asked visa applicants to submit social media identifiers on immigrant and non-immigrant visa application forms. The post continued: “We use all available information in our visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who represent a threat to U.S. national security.”

Advice for students: What to do now

Students who are seeking US visas should:

• Provide all existing and previous social media usernames correctly on the DS-160 application.
• Set profiles to public, but maintain posts professional and neutral.
• Remove any inactive accounts that can contain duplicate or misinterpreted posts.
• Do not use jokes, memes, or comments that would be misinterpreted as being negative towards US policies.

With Indian students sending more than $40 billion to the US economy, the stakes are high. The policy plans to strengthen security but has no doubts about affecting free expression and personal privacy. Students now have to tread carefully along the thin line between authenticity and prudence to maintain their study-abroad aspirations.