The State Department has mandated stricter vetting for anyone traveling to Harvard, including students and faculty, to identify applicants with anti-Semitic ties. Consular officers will review online presence to assess visa eligibility and credibility.
Those looking to travel to Harvard University “for any purpose” will go through more extensive vetting. The State Department on Friday has instructed all US embassies and consulates to do the same starting “immediately”, per Reuters.
Such applicants include but are not limited to prospective students, students, faculty, employees, contractors, guest speakers, and tourists, the cable said. The word “any” in the cable text is written in bold format and underlined.
After the Trump administration tried to ban the Ivy League university from enrolling foreign students, a judge halted the ban.
The State Department has said that the vetting measures are being taken to ensure “consular officers can appropriately identify” visa applicants with “histories of anti-Semitic harassment and violence, and to duly consider the visa eligibility under U.S. immigration law,” CNN stated in a report citing a diplomatic cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Per the cable, dated May 30th, if an individual seeks to work at, attend or otherwise visit to Harvard, in the prescreening or interviewing process, consular offices have been instructed to refuse the visa “pending review of their online presence” – which would essentially mean screening of their online presence, including social media.
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