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STUDENTS AND BUSINESSES should begin to consider what other options are available to them following changes to immigration and trade policies in the US, Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh has said.
Walsh, a member of the European Parliament’s delegation to the US, told a group of reporters in Brussels today that she finds a recent change to the American student visa policy worrying.
Under changes announced yesterday, anyone seeking to travel to the US to study, conduct research or work in academia must provide the details of every social media account they have owned in the last five years.
J1 applicants – for students and graduates who are seeking to work in the US for a fixed period – will also be required to provide their social media handles. Accounts should also be made publicly available, so officials can scrutinise visa applicants’ use of social media.
Reacting to the announcement yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the measures are “excessive”.
Midland North West’s Walsh today suggested that it is time that more focus is placed on the internal Erasmus programme, which sees university students from one member state study at another campus in a different member state.
“I would be encouraging people not to put all their eggs in one basket with the US. Maybe start looking further afield. From a business standpoint, we need to give [companies] better access to the single market,” she said.
Walsh, who is also a US citizen by birth, added: “We [also] need to make sure that there’s a better market here for the student population. How can we make Erasmus easier for you to move?”
This will apply to all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas.
The J nonimmigrant visa is the best known of these. It covers work in the US for a limited period, while its J1 iteration allows students and college graduates to enter the US during the summer for work and travel in the US.
In the statement, the US Embassy said that a visa “is a privilege, not a right” for travellers and that every visa decision was a “national security decision”. The embassy said it will resume scheduling F, M, and J nonimmigrant visa applications soon.
”The fact that another country has made it so that they can look into your social media over the last five years – that is incredibly difficult for me to comprehend as someone who lives in a country that holds a number of social media platforms and is part of a very rich, peaceful product like the EU,” Walsh said.
Over the last year, the European Commission has been investigating methods to cut back on bureaucracy and invest in the single market and boost competitiveness between businesses in member states by making it easier to give companies access to the single market.
It comes after two high-level reports were delivered to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the beginning of her second term, outlining how to improve Europe’s single market.
In education, Europe has sought to attract researchers who otherwise would’ve attended an American university through new innovation grants and schemes.
It comes after US President Donald Trump has sought to target certain aspects of academia in his country and attempted to ban international students at campuses, such as Harvard University.
The Journal attended the US Embassy today and asked students queuing outside what they make of social media checks. One student, Éamon, said he “did not have a problem” with the recent changes to US visa application checks.
Other students, such as Ailbhe, said the new changes are likely to make students worried, particularly if they frequently use social media for activism.
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