Hundreds of international students in the US are getting an email from the US Department of State (DOS) asking them to self-deport owing to campus activism. Immigration attorneys’ contacted by TOI affirmed this development and added a few Indian students may also be at the receiving end of such emails – for something as innocuous as sharing a social media post.
It is not just international students who physically participated in campus activism but also those who shared or liked ‘anti-national’ posts that are the target of these emails, said an immigration attorney.
This crackdown is based on social-media reviews being conducted by DOS (which includes Consulate officials). Thus, even new student applications be it for an F (academic study visa), M (vocational study visa) or J (exchange visa) will also come under such social media scrutiny. Applicants will be denied the opportunity to study in the US.
According to the latest Open Doors report, there are 1.1 million international students studying in the US in 2023-24 of which 3.31 lakh are Indian students. In particular, students at
As reported by Axios earlier, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, has launched an AI-fuelled ‘Catch and Revoke’ effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups. Axios further reports that more than 300 foreign students have had their student visas revoked in the three weeks that ‘Catch and Revoke’ has been in operation, there are 1.5 million student visa-holders nationwide.

The email sent to the students reads:

“On behalf of the United States Department of State, the Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Office hereby informs you that additional information became available after your visa was issued. As a result, your F-1 visa with expiration date XXXXX was revoked in accordance with Section 221(i) of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.”
“The Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Office has alerted the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which manages the Student Exchange Visitor Program and is responsible for removal proceedings. They may notify your designated school official about the revocation of your F-1 visa.”
“Remaining in the United States without a lawful immigration status can result in fines, detention, and/or deportation. It may also make you ineligible for a future U.S. visa. Please note that deportation can take place at a time that does not allow the person being deported to secure possessions or conclude affairs in the United States. Persons being deported may be sent to countries other than their countries of origin.”
“Given the gravity of this situation, individuals whose visa was revoked may wish to demonstrate their intent to depart the United States using the CBP Home App”
“As soon as you depart the United States, you must personally present your passport to the U.S. embassy or consulate which issued your visa so your visa can be physically cancelled. You must not attempt to use your visa as it has been revoked. If you intend to travel to the United States in the future, you must apply for another U.S. visa and a determination on your eligibility for a visa will be made at that time.”
According to immigration attorneys, the flurry of self-deportation emails that are being sent to international students stems from a March 25, internal directive dispatched by Rubio, directing mandatory social media reviews of existing international students already in the US and new applicants.
“If the social media review uncovers potentially derogatory information indicating that the applicant may not be eligible for a visa, Fraud Prevention Units are required to take screenshots of social media findings to the extent it is relevant to a visa ineligibility, to preserve the record against the applicant’s later alteration of the information,” states this internal directive.
“Consular officers do not need to upload social media findings if the review does not reveal derogatory information, but consular officers must enter case notes stating they conducted a social media review which did not reveal derogatory information,” adds the directive.

Views of an immigration attorney:

Jath Shao, founder of an immigration law firm, spoke extensively with TOI on this emerging issue.

“F-1 and J-1 students are usually admitted D/S, meaning for the duration of their status. There’s a slight distinction between overstay and unlawful presence Historically, someone admitted D/S has not accrued unlawful presence for the purpose of 3 or 10 year bars unless USCIS makes a formal finding that they are unlawfully present. This is important because if you’re formally unlawfully present for more than 180 days or 365 days, it can trigger a 3 or 10 year bar. However, with overstay, it’s more in a gray area – where the consular officer has more discretion whether to hold that overstay or status violation against the person,” said Shao.

“USCIS’s page has been updated recently on Jan 25 and now states that – Non-immigrants admitted for the duration of status, generally begin accruing unlawful presence the day after their status ends, if they remain in US,” he pointed out.

This is similar to what the Trump administration had attempted during his earlier tenure, when they tried to change the rule to backdate unlawful presence to the point of time when the person violated status.

“Historically, someone admitted under D/S can stay as long as they are maintaining that status – such as being a full time F-1 student or J-1 exchange visitor. In cases of SEVIS termination, normally there are two things an international student can do – either apply to USCIS to reinstate your F-1 and SEVIS, or leave the US and try to get a new F-1 visa through the embassy.”

Shao added, “As part of the leaked Rubio memo (reported by online media) states that affected people should self deport and report to the US consulate or embassy for physical cancellation of their visa, it doesn’t seem like going back to apply for a new visa would be a great option.” (The email sent to a student, as seen by TOI, also has a similar wording).

Jath Shao and other immigration attorneys view that students should seek legal counsel to help them reinstate their SEVIS or in a worse case, immigration attorneys can defend them if removal proceedings are brought against them.

Rubio’s statement at an earlier press conference:
At a press conference in Guyana on Thursday, in response to a question relating to the Turkish student at Tufts who has been detained, Rubio said: “if you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student and you tell us that the reason why you’re coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we’re not going to give you a visa. If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter the United States and with that visa participate in that sort of activity, we’re going to take away your visa.”
“Now, once you’ve lost your visa, you’re no longer legally in the United States, and we have a right, like every country in the world has a right, to remove you from our country. So it’s just that simple.”
“I think it’s crazy – I think it’s stupid for any country in the world to welcome people into their country that are going to go to their universities as visitors – they’re visitors – and say I’m going to your universities to start a riot, I’m going to your universities to take over a library and harass people. I don’t care what movement you’re involved in. Why would any country in the world allow people to come and disrupt? We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses. And if we’ve given you a visa and then you decide to do that, we’re going to take it away…Once your visa is revoked, you’re illegally in the country and you have to leave. Every country in the world has a right to decide who comes in as a visitor and who doesn’t”.