Bengaluru: Students who wish to study in the United States under the F, M, or J non-immigrant visa categories will now be required to set their social media accounts to ‘public’ as part of the visa application process.

Beginning June 2025, those applying for F, M, and J visas to the U.S. must reveal all social media usernames used in the past five years, as announced this week by the embassies.

Last month, the US administration had asked its embassies to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as it expands scrutiny of applicants’ social media posts.