On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law. As part of this law, a new 'visa integrity fee' is required for any nonimmigrant visa issued. The amount will be the greater of $250 or what Homeland Security establishes (Source).

Yes. The good news is that the visa pause has been lifted—but there will be an expanded social media screening. This means all F, M, and J visa applicants need to make all social media accounts public. This will allow consular officers to review your online presence (Source).

Please be thoughtful about what you share online because not having social media would seem suspicious (Source 1 & 2). As mentioned previously, please be aware that all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas must adjust privacy settings to all social media profiles and make it public (Source 3).

The travel ban is for the safety and protection of our U.S. citizens and those legally here in the United States (Source).

There is a list of twelve countries that have been banned entry:
1) Afghanistan
2) Burma
3) Chad
4) Republic of Congo
5) Equatorial Guinea
6) Eritrea
7) Haiti
8) Iran
9) Libya
10) Somalia
11) Sudan
12) Yemen

The partial ban on seven countries means they are not completely banned from entering the United States because there are exceptions (Source). Here are the seven countries with a partial ban from entry into the United States:
1) Burundi
2) Cuba
3) Laos
4) Sierra Leone
5) Togo
6) Turkmenistan
7) Venezuela

What we can share is that President Trump's proclamation about the Travel Ban was clear, stating "no immigrant or nonimmigrant visa issued before the applicable effective date of this proclamation shall be revoked pursuant to this proclamation," dated June 4, 2025 (Source).

There may be some exceptions but decisions are case-by-case made by the Secretary of State (Source).

As of now, the 12 countries banned and 7 countries partially banned are what we have updates about. The additional 36 countries "will be given 60 days to meet the Trump administration's benchmarks and requirements or face either a partial or full entry ban, " dated June 16, 2025 (Source).

The U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security said they would revoke visas for Chinese students connected to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields (Source).

These fields of study are not specified.

We will honor and support the current laws in place for visas. As noted, “Every visa adjudication (decision) is a national security decision - every single one of them” (Source).