New Policy on Visas Adds to Mounting Scrutiny of International Students in the US

Harvard University graduating senior Victor Flores claps while listening to a fellow student speak at a protest against President Donald Trump's recent sanctions against Harvard in front of Science Center Plaza on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)
Harvard University graduating senior Victor Flores claps while listening to a fellow student speak at a protest against President Donald Trump's recent sanctions against Harvard in front of Science Center Plaza on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)
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New Policy on Visas Adds to Mounting Scrutiny of International Students in the US

Harvard University graduating senior Victor Flores claps while listening to a fellow student speak at a protest against President Donald Trump's recent sanctions against Harvard in front of Science Center Plaza on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)
Harvard University graduating senior Victor Flores claps while listening to a fellow student speak at a protest against President Donald Trump's recent sanctions against Harvard in front of Science Center Plaza on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

New State Department guidance on visa applications is adding to uncertainty for America's international students, who have faced intensifying scrutiny from President Donald Trump's administration.

In a cable sent Tuesday to US embassies and consulates, Secretary of State Marco Rubio halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for international students as the department prepares guidelines for increased vetting of their activity on social media. Existing appointments may be kept and will proceed under current review guidelines, the cable said.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh student Vladyslav Plyaka was planning to visit Poland to see his mother and renew his visa, but he doesn’t know when that will be possible now that visa appointments are suspended. He also doesn’t feel safe leaving the US even when appointments resume.

“I don’t think I have enough trust in the system at this point,” said Plyaka, who came to the US from Ukraine as an exchange student in high school and stayed for college.

The announcement came days after the Trump administration moved to block Harvard University from enrolling any international students, a decision that has been put on hold by a federal judge, pending a lawsuit.

Trump said Wednesday that Harvard, whose current student population is made up of more than a quarter of international students, should limit that percentage to about 15%.

“I want to make sure the foreign students are people that can love our country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Earlier this year, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and tried to deport students who had been involved in campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war. And the Trump administration abruptly terminated the legal status of thousands of international students before reversing itself and then expanding the grounds on which students can lose permission to study in the US.

International students see new reason for caution

The uncertainty raised by the suspension of visa appointments will do further damage to the US reputation as a destination country, said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an association that represents international educators. Students generally commit to their program of study in late spring, meaning now would be peak time for students to schedule their visa interviews.

“International students and scholars are tremendous assets that contribute to US preeminence in innovation, research, and economic strength,” Aw said in a statement. “Undermining their ability to study here is self-defeating.”

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the climate of uncertainty led one international student to cancel a trip home to Vietnam this summer. He emails the school’s international office frequently to make sure his legal status is secure.

“There’s just this constant unease. It’s quite stressful, really,” said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being targeted.

The pause affects three categories of visas that cover university students, as well as high school exchange students and boarding school students. The largest category, F-1 visas, includes students who are enrolling at full-time accredited schools. Students participating in exchange programs enter on J-1 visas, and those enrolling in vocational or non-academic programs enter on M-1 visas.

Around 1.1 million international students were in the United States last year — a source of essential revenue for tuition-driven colleges. International students are not eligible for federal financial aid. Often, they pay full price.

Northeastern University, which has more than 20,000 international students, has set up “contingency plans” for those who hit visa delays, said spokesperson Renata Nyul, without elaborating.

“This is a very dynamic situation, and we are closely monitoring the developments in real time to assess any potential impacts,” she said.

The US plans more in-depth reviews of visa applicants' social media

Visa applicants have been required to provide social media handles to the State Department since 2019. The cable did not indicate what kind of additional scrutiny the new guidelines would cover, but suggested the new reviews may be more resource-intensive.

The additional vetting will deter students from coming to the US, said Jonathan Friedman of PEN America, a literary and free expression organization.

“The details remain vague, but this policy risks upending the long-standing place of the US as a beacon for intellectual and cultural exchange with the world,” Friedman said.

The move to cut off international enrollment at Harvard stems from a dispute with the Department of Homeland Security, which has demanded that it provide information about foreign students that might implicate them in violence or protests that could lead to their deportation. Harvard says it complied with the records request, but the agency said its response fell short.

On Wednesday, Trump said more scrutiny of Harvard's students is necessary.

“They’re taking people from areas of the world that are very radicalized, and we don’t want them making trouble in our country,” Trump said.

The Trump administration has cut over $2.6 billion in federal grants for Harvard as it presses demands for changes to policies and governance at the Ivy League school, which the president has described as a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism. Harvard has pushed back and filed a lawsuit against the administration.



North Korea Bans Foreign Tourists to Newly Opened Beach Resort

(FILES) Domestic tourists watch as a man uses a slide into a swimming pool at the Myongsasimni Water Park in the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area in Wonsan, North Korea's Kangwon Province on July 2, 2025. (Photo by KIM Won Jin / AFP)
(FILES) Domestic tourists watch as a man uses a slide into a swimming pool at the Myongsasimni Water Park in the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area in Wonsan, North Korea's Kangwon Province on July 2, 2025. (Photo by KIM Won Jin / AFP)
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North Korea Bans Foreign Tourists to Newly Opened Beach Resort

(FILES) Domestic tourists watch as a man uses a slide into a swimming pool at the Myongsasimni Water Park in the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area in Wonsan, North Korea's Kangwon Province on July 2, 2025. (Photo by KIM Won Jin / AFP)
(FILES) Domestic tourists watch as a man uses a slide into a swimming pool at the Myongsasimni Water Park in the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area in Wonsan, North Korea's Kangwon Province on July 2, 2025. (Photo by KIM Won Jin / AFP)

North Korea is banning the entry of foreign tourists to a recently opened mega beach resort, a move that dims prospects for the complex that leader Kim Jong Un hailed it as “one of the greatest successes this year.”

DPR Korea Tour, a website run by North Korea’s tourism authorities, said in a notice Friday that the eastern coastal Wonsan-Kalma tourist complex “is temporarily not receiving foreign tourists.” It gave no further details including why a ban was established or how long it would last, The Associated Press reported.

North Korea says the complex can accommodate nearly 20,000 guests. The resort opened to domestic tourists July 1 before receiving a small group of Russian tourists last week. Observers expected North Korea to open the resort to Chinese tourists while largely blocking other international tourists.

The announcement came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew to the complex to meet Kim and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui for talks last weekend.

North Korea and Russia have sharply expanded military and other cooperation in recent years, with North Korea supplying weapons and troops to back Russia’s war against Ukraine. During a meeting with Choe, Lavrov promised to take steps to support Russian travel to the zone.

“I am sure that Russian tourists will be increasingly eager to come here,” he said.

But experts say North Korea likely decided to halt foreigner travels to the zone because of a newspaper article by a Russian reporter who travelled with Lavrov that implied North Koreans at the zone appeared to be mobilized by authorities and not real tourists.

“The North Korean government is believed to have determined that it would face some negative consequences when it opens the site to foreigners,” said Oh Gyeong-seob, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification.

Oh said the ban would include Russians, but the North Korea-focused NK News website, citing tour groups specializing in North Korea trips, said Russians won't likely be targeted.

Analyst Lee Sangkeun of Seoul's Institute for National Security Strategy said the ban could be associated with difficulties in recruiting Russian tourists because many would consider North Korea too far away and the trip too expensive.

Experts say North Korea must open the Wonsan-Kalma zone, the country’s biggest tourist complex, to Russian and Chinese tourists, given what was likely a huge construction and operational expenditure from the country’s tight budget.

“If foreign tourists aren't allowed to the site, no Russian rubles, Chinese yuans and dollars won't come in. Then, North Korea can't break even and it has to shut down the resort,” said Ahn Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korean Studies think tank in Seoul.

Kim has said the site would be “one of the greatest successes this year” and “the proud first step” in tourism development. North Korea’s state media reports the Wonsan-Kalma site has been crowded with local tourists.

The first group of 15 Russian tourists arrived in the resort July 11 after visiting Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, NK News reported earlier this week.

“It was magnificent. Everything is new, clean and stunning," Russian tourist Nina Svirida said in the report.

North Korea has been slowly easing the curbs imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and reopening its borders in phases. But the country hasn’t said if it would fully resume international tourism.

Chinese group tours, which made up more than 90% of visitors before the pandemic, remain stalled. In February, North Korea allowed a small group of international tourists to visit the northeastern city of Rason, only to stop the program in less than a month.