Indian students in America faced visa cancellations for “minor offences” under a new policy announced by the US government in April, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar told Parliament on Thursday.
India has expressed concern over the cancellation of F1 visas (non-immigrant visas for international students) for such “minor offences”, the minister said in response to a supplementary question in the Rajya Sabha.
Indian Union Muslim League MP Haris Beeran said nearly 6,000 student visas had been revoked by the US for social media posts, particularly for showing solidarity with Gaza. He wanted to know if the government had intervened on behalf of these students.
Jaishankar stated that the revocation of student visas began following the announcement of the new policy in April. “Where the cancellation or revocation of student visas was done, the problem began in April of 2025 when a new policy was announced by the secretary of state and as a result of that even for relatively minor offences, we saw the cancellation of visas of students. In many cases, there was pressure on them to self-deport,” he said in a written reply.
“Many students directly contacted the consulates and the embassy. The consulates and embassy intervened wherever possible. We have tried to get the American system to understand that minor offences should not be the reason for such actions. However, the issuance of visas is a sovereign right of a government,” he added.
Jaishankar was referring to the policy under which scrutiny of student visas was intensified through social media vetting. The minister said the US government on Wednesday took the view that every visa adjudication is a national security decision.
“So they reserve the right to take a decision on visas which is based on their assessment of the national security implications of a particular individual’s position. They have publicly said that where students’ visas are concerned, they would ask all applicants to adjust their social media settings from privacy to public so that they do scrutinise the social media postings of people who have visas potentially or actually in the US,” he said.
The recent months have seen a series of punitive measures by the US government against academic institutions and foreign students. The US administration is upset with universities over protests and activism by student groups against Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
International students in US colleges are required to have valid documentation under the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (Sevis). However, the Donald Trump administration started terminating the Sevis documents of select international students, including several from India, in March over antisemitic protests. Many of them have returned to India.
An Indian student pursuing a PhD at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, recently told The Telegraph that the US administration has terminated the Sevis records of several international students on various grounds, including false cases of petty crimes.
“Students having taken part in pro-Palestine protests on US campuses were the first to face termination of Sevis. Later, the Sevis records were also terminated over false cases of petty crimes. The right to protest is extended to non-citizens in the US under the first constitutional amendment. Taking part in the protest is no ground for terminating Sevis,” the student said.