By EDWARD WONG NYTimes News Service
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WASHINGTON — The State Department is temporarily halting interviews abroad with foreign citizens applying for student and exchange visas as it expands scrutiny of applicants’ social media posts.

The order was issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a cable dated Tuesday that went out to U.S. embassies and consulates. A State Department official confirmed Tuesday that Rubio had given the order to pause new interview appointments until further guidance.

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“We use all available information in our visa screening and vetting,” the State Department said in a statement, without specifying what could flag an applicant for rejection under a new social media policy. The statement noted that visa applicants have been asked to provide social media account information on forms since 2019.

The secretary of state’s new order Tuesday comes as President Donald Trump is trying to coerce Harvard University and other institutions to restrict what can be said on campuses, with a particular focus on anti-Israel speech.

Trump this month said the U.S. government would no longer grant Harvard the right to enroll international students. On Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking Trump from moving forward with the action against Harvard and foreign students.

Many universities in the United States rely on foreign students to pay full tuition. Those students are responsible for a substantial portion of the annual revenues of many American universities. On some campuses, foreign students make up the majority of researchers in certain disciplines, mainly in the sciences.

Foreign students collectively pursued more than 1.3 million degrees in higher education in 2023, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security. Visiting professors from abroad will also be affected by the new restrictions.

Foreign citizens with existing interview appointments for student or exchange visas should in theory still be able to attend those.

In its statement, the State Department suggested the pause was a part of the ordinarily “dynamic” scheduling of interviews for such visas. The department said it bases visa timelines on what the officers need for sufficient vetting, in compliance with U.S. law and “to ensure applicants do not pose a security or safety risk to the United States.”

Rubio issued a cable on March 25 that told consular officers to scrutinize the social media content of some applicants for student and other types of visas. That directive said that officers need to refer certain student and exchange visitor visa applicants to the “fraud prevention unit” for a “mandatory social media check.”

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