Nigerians, others to be affected as US suspends student visa interviews globally

In a significant policy shift, the United States government has suspended the scheduling of new interview appointments for student visa applicants worldwide, including in Nigeria.

The directive, issued by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was communicated to American diplomats across the globe via a cable on Tuesday, according to Politico. The move comes as the U.S. government considers implementing more stringent background checks, particularly focusing on applicants’ social media activity.

This suspension affects those seeking student visas such as the F-1 visa, widely used by international students to pursue academic programs in the U.S. As a result, U.S. embassies and consulates have been instructed to pause new interview appointments until further notice.

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Although this is only temporary, during this period, no new applicants will be able to schedule an interview, which is a required step in the student visa process.

Mr Rubio, however, ordered that interviews that have already been scheduled can proceed.

“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued,” Mr Rubio said in the cable.

He stated that the guidance on social media vetting is expected in the coming days.

Thousands of Nigerian students study in American universities for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, with more seeking to join them.

The latest action is part of the US government’s efforts to control foreign students’ entry to American schools over claims they have contributed to an atmosphere that promotes antisemitism.

The Trump administration is currently pressuring US universities to change their race-conscious admission policies.

Last week, the administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students by revoking its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification.

The Department of Homeland Security attributed this to the university’s refusal to comply with its requests for the behavioural records of student visa holders.

It had earlier frozen $2.3 billion in federal funds to the university.

The administration has also revoked the visas of hundreds of foreign students.

Recall that about 600 international students in over 90 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated.

In April, Cynderila Patrick, a Nigerian and graduate of Youngstown State University in Ohio, filed a lawsuit against the US government after her student visa was revoked.

Many other international students affected have also filed lawsuits.

Last Thursday, a federal judge issued a ruling that prevents the US government from terminating the legal status of foreign students while a court case challenging the previous terminations was pending.

Meanwhile, Mr Rubio stated that the State Department had likely revoked thousands of student visas across the country and was open to revoking more.

“We’re going to continue to revoke the visas of people who are here as guests and are disrupting our higher education facilities.

“A visa is a privilege, not a right,” he told Congress last Tuesday.