US Halts Int’l Student Visa Screening; Panjabis Rescued from Iran

On 27 May, the US President Donald Trump's administration ordered its embassies around the world to stop scheduling appointments for student visas. In the memo, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, ‘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.’ Most international students hold the F-1 student visa. The J-1 visa is granted to students in exchange or scholarship programs such as the Fulbright fellowship; professors participating in exchange programs; and interns. The M-1 visa is granted to students participating in training programs in the US. Many of the US universities rely on foreign students for a significant chunk of their funding—as those scholars often pay higher tuition fees. An official said the halt is temporary and does not apply to students who have already scheduled their visa interviews. According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) by Numbers 2024, the total number of active F-1 and M-1 international students in the US were 1.58M in 2024, marking a 5.3% increase over 2023. While international students hailed from more than 229 countries, this growth was substantially fuelled by students from India including Panjab. Nearly 420K Indian students represented an increase of 11.8% compared to 2023. Meanwhile, three men from Panjab—Amritpal Singh from Bhagowal village in Hoshiarpur, Husanpreet Singh of Dhuri in Sangrur, and Jaspal Singh of Langroya in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar—went missing in Iran in May. The men were allegedly duped by local travel agents who had promised them lucrative jobs in Australia. They were told that their stopover in Iran was temporary and that they would soon proceed to their final destination. However, soon after reaching Tehran, they were kidnapped and their families received ransom calls. The Indian Embassy in Iran took over the matter with the Iranian authorities who rescued them.