The U.S. State Department has implemented a moratorium on scheduling new visa interviews for foreign students, pending the augmentation of vetting procedures pertaining to their social media footprint.

This stipulation is inapplicable to applicants with pre-scheduled visa interview appointments.

A recently surfaced State Department cable, bearing Secretary Marco Rubio's signature, stipulates that consular sections are henceforth proscribed from scheduling additional student visa appointments pending the promulgation of forthcoming directives pertaining to the expansion of social media vetting protocols.

This action follows in the wake of the Trump administration's crackdown on international students, which included the revocation of Harvard University's authorization to enroll international students and the invalidation of the status of tens of thousands of international students already in situ.

The Biden administration has perpetuated the policy of scrutinizing visa applicants' social media profiles, a continuation that elicits ongoing debate regarding its efficacy and potential for infringing upon privacy rights.

The protracted suspension of student visas threatens to disrupt prospective students' matriculation plans for both the summer and autumn semesters, whilst the concomitant decline in international student enrollment portends deleterious budgetary repercussions for universities.