US student visa pause won't last long: State Dept

WASHINGTON: The United States has said that the current pause in processing student visas is only temporary. 

The State Department has assured international students that visa appointments will likely resume soon, even as new rules for checking social media activity are being prepared.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce encouraged prospective students to seek visa appointments, stating: ‘I would not be recommending that if this was going to be weeks or months.’

‘I can tell you that it’s something that would happen perhaps sooner rather than later,’ she told reporters.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered embassies and consulates to pause scheduling appointments for student visas, pending new guidelines on checking applicants’ social media posts.

It marks one of several confrontations over education by President Donald Trump’s administration, which has revoked thousands of visas, attempted to bar Harvard University from accepting any international students, and vowed to aggressively cancel visas held by Chinese nationals.

Rubio has revoked the visas of many students who led demonstrations critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, invoking an obscure law that permits the removal of individuals deemed to act against US foreign policy interests.

In a cable to diplomatic missions on Tuesday, Rubio stated that new guidance on social media screening would be issued in the ‘coming days’.

Bruce added that prospective students should begin checking online for available appointment slots.

‘Right now, there might be some delay, and what I’m told to encourage people to do is to regularly check to see when those spaces open,’ she said.