New screening plan, halted interviews push students to consider UK, Canada instead
A wave of anxiety is taking hold among Koreans eyeing higher education opportunities in the United States, who are shifting the focus of their worries from academic benchmarks and linguistic fluency to the digital footprint they leave on social media platforms.
The concerns were sparked by reports that the U.S. government has ordered a pause on new student visa interview appointments as it considers implementing mandatory social media screening for visa applicants.
"We couldn’t get any work done because of the flood of phone calls and messages from worried students and parents asking about their visa interviews," a manager at an education consultancy specializing in U.S. study abroad program in southern Seoul told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.
According to a report by Politico, Tuesday, the U.S. government is reviewing a plan to make social media screening mandatory for foreign students applying for visas to study in the country.
In preparation, the State Department has ordered all diplomatic missions to temporarily halt new interview appointments for F, M and J visas until further guidance is issued through a separate directive.
These growing concerns are prompting Korean students to consider alternatives such as the U.K. or Canada.
"There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding studying in the U.S. right now — from the social media screening issue to President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about banning international students at Harvard," said Baek Yul-ri, director of a U.S. study abroad consulting firm in southern Seoul.
"But because these are largely political matters, there’s no clear way to predict or prepare for them."
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