Issuance of visas sovereign right of a Govt: Jaishankar

The issuance of visas is a sovereign right of a government, and the United States reserves the right to take a decision on a visa based on its assessment of its national security implications, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

He said the recent announcements made by the United States, with the latest being on Wednesday, during which visa adjudication has been made a national security decision. His comments came amid increasing concerns over the US tightening its visa screening system, including scrutinising social media accounts of applicants, a move that is likely to affect Indian applicants as well.

“The issuance of visas is a sovereign right of a government. “In the case of the United States, the US Government has taken a view, the latest announcement was yesterday, that every visa adjudication is a national security decision. So, they reserve the right to take a decision on a visa, which is based on their assessment of the national security implications of a particular individual’s position,” Jaishankar told the Upper House. “Furthermore, they have also very publicly said that where student visas are concerned, they would ask all applicants to adjust their social media settings from privacy settings to public settings so that they can scrutinise the social media postings of people who have visas, potentially or actually in the United States.

That is a position that they have publicly taken,” he said. Responding to supplementaries on the issue, the minister said that when the cancellation or revocation of student visas was done, the problem began in April 2025, when a new policy was announced by the Secretary of State in the US. “As a result of that, even for relatively minor offences, we saw the cancellation of visas of students. In many cases, there was also pressure on them to self-deport,” Jaishankar said. Asked whether the Indian authorities have taken up the issue with the US authorities, the minister said, “Yes, in each of these cases, wherever it came to our attention, and when students directly contacted our consulates or embassies, the consulates and embassies have intervened where possible”.

“We have tried to get the American system to understand that minor offences should not be a reason for such action,” he said. The US Government has expanded screening and vetting measures for H-1B visa applicants and their H-4 dependents, directing them to keep the privacy settings on all their social media profiles set to “public”. In a new order issued Wednesday, the State Department said beginning December 15, a review of the online presence for all H-1B applicants and their dependents will be conducted. Students and exchange visitors were already subject to such scrutiny, which has now been extended to include those applying for H-1B and H-4 visas.

“To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for H-1B and their dependents (H-4), F, M, and J non-immigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public’,” the State Department said.