In breaking news out of the USA, the Trump administration has halted the scheduling of new visa appointments.
Reuters says in a story several hours ago:
In the cable, first reported by Politico, Rubio said appointments that have already been scheduled can proceed under the current guidelines, but available appointments not already taken should be pulled down.
“The Department is conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa applicants, and based on that review, plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applicants,” the cable said.
The Koala has spoken with Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association of Australia, who is on the ground in the USA at the moment for the NAFSA conference. He says, “Of the 8,000 attendees at NAFSA this year, the mood of the Americans’ went instantly from optimistic to downbeat with Trump’s announcement over here this morning.
While the issues associated with the ban on Harvard were thought to be specific to that institution no one anticipated a blanket ban on all international students at all American institutions, including learning abroad.
The additional sting in the tail of right to inspect all social media posts by students currently in the pipeline has caused understandable horror as well!
It was only a short time ago that Trump was flagging Green Card citizenship rights for any international student who graduated in a STEM program from an American university. This is understandably what Silicon Valley were demanding of him. His 360 Degree policy turn is apparently in response to his MAGA Republican support base reminding him that he was elected on an anti-immigration platform.
Given Australia’s own enrolment restrictions we will not be a great beneficiary of students applying to us now instead of the USA. But more open markets such as NZ and Ireland will do well at our American colleagues” unfortunate expense.
All in all never a dull moment for international education here in North America!”
More to come.
