The United States will now require applicants to have a key social media profile to grant visas.

The United States has just confirmed that all foreign nationals applying for F, M, or J nonimmigrant visas —categories corresponding to student visas—" will be required to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to 'public' to facilitate the verification necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States."

"Each visa is a national security decision ," the U.S. Embassy in Argentina said in a statement via the X social media platform. The measure is effective immediately .

This announcement comes as no surprise, as it follows President Donald Trump's May request that all embassies suspend interviews and issuing student visas while he prepared guidance on "social media review and evaluation."

And then, also, the shock generated at Harvard University —and around the world—when it was banned from enrolling international students and researchers in its courses.

All of these measures are in response to the U.S. government's recent effort to restrict the entry of foreign students to U.S. universities , arguing that international students could threaten U.S. national security or promote anti-Semitism.

The New York Times reported: "Consular officials at missions abroad were instructed to look for ' any indication of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.' The State Department did not elaborate on how officials would define those criteria."

Concern about social media is nothing new . Back in 2019—also under Donald Trump as US president—foreigners applying for US visas were required to provide social media information in their applications.

According to a report from the Department of Homeland Security, more than 1.3 million foreign students earned higher education degrees at U.S. universities in 2023. Therefore, any measures to curb the entry of these types of visitors also affect the income of educational institutions.

The three nonimmigrant visa categories mentioned in the official communication (F, M and J) are those applicable to those who want to travel to the United States to participate in different educational programs .