It is a relief for Kenyans wishing to study in the United States after President Donald Trump ordered the reopening of the international student visa processing following temporary suspensions.
On May 27, Trump suspended appointments for new foreign learner visas in a bid to allow the immigration authorities to adopt a social media vetting policy for foreign students as part of his changes.
He directed missions abroad to halt scheduling new appointments for students and exchange visitor visa applicants.
"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," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
The State Department stated on June 18 that foreign learner applicants will be required to have public social media accounts so the department can review them.
The department also mentioned that failure to set accounts to public as the lowest privacy setting could be interpreted as an indication that applicants are concealing online activities.
“Under new guidelines, consular officials will conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting of all the students and exchange visitor applicants.”
“The enhanced social media vetting will ensure we are properly screening every single person attempting to visit our county,” the statement reads.
According to the department, the rule will affect all applicants for F visas, which are mostly used by students.
This will also have an impact on applicants for M visas, which are used by vocational students, and J visas, which are used by exchange students.
Trump has recently taken aggressive measures against prestigious American universities. This includes attempting to deport some students or revoke their visas, as well as halting millions of dollars in funding.
With billions of dollars in government funding frozen, Harvard University is among the universities impacted by Trump's decision.
