Hundreds of International Student Visas Revoked for Activism or Merely Sharing a Social Media Post

Hundreds of international students in the USA received mass email from the Department of State revoking their visas and threatening rendition to a third country if they do not quickly leave.

About 1.5 million international students are in the USA on F-1 visas. Targeted students are not necessarily activists and may not ever have attended a rally or protest. As little as sharing of a social media post the government does not like appears to be enough to revoke their visas. The threat to send them to a country with which they have no prior relationship implies that they could be sent to CECOT, the notorious prison in El Salvador, like three flights with Venezuelan immigrants were, or to a similarly horrifying place.

The email template 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 As a result, your F-1 visa with expiration date xxxxxx was revoked in accordance with Section 221(i) of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.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Given the gravity of this situation, individuals whose visa was revoked may wish to demonstrate their intent to depart the United States using the CBP Home App.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 You must not attempt to use your visa as it has been revoked.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.

SEVIS records for the targeted students are also being terminated. SEVIS is a web-based system through which the Department of Homeland Security tracks and monitors international students while they are studying in the USA. Notification of SEVIS termination includes:

Students with a terminated SEVIS record must depart the U.S. immediately; there is no grace period following a SEVIS termination. We advise you to depart the US as soon as possible.

The visa revocation email was generated by an artificial intelligence driven “Catch and Revoke” campaign at the behest of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This campaign was triggered by a 25 March 2025 internal directive by Rubio which mandated reviews of social media usage by international students already in the USA and by new visa applicants. His directive includes:

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.

Consular officers to 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.

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