According to The Guardian, a US State Department dispatch sent on May 27 asking consular departments to temporarily suspend any new appointments for student visas or student exchange visitors (F, M, and J) until further instructions are available in the next few days.
This is making Hai Quan, a 12th grade student in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, worried. Hai Quan said that he plans to apply for an international visa in the US this coming June.
"I am worried that the long interview suspension will affect my study abroad plan," Hai Quan expressed.
Meanwhile, Ms. Nguyen Thu Linh (Trang Bom district, Dong Nai province) said that she is considering changing her daughter's study abroad location.
"The US is a country with a very good education system, I have been guiding my children for a long time, but in recent days, information about changes in policies such as stopping international visa interviews has made me wondering. Maybe I will find another country in Europe for my child to study abroad if the situation does not change," said Ms. Linh.
Speaking to Lao Dong on the afternoon of May 29, Mr. Le Bao Thang - Director of OSI Vietnam International Education Consulting Company said that the temporary suspension of the study abroad visa appointment schedule can be understood as technical adjustments, updates, and revisions to have requirements for providing more information to be more strict in the application, not to completely stop the issuance of study abroad visas.
According to Mr. Thang, on May 27 until now, some of the company's customers have been notified by the Consulate General of the US Embassy in Ho Chi Minh City to repeat the interview schedule for visa applications.
"Some students still participate in interviews according to previous schedules," Mr. Thang shared.
In addition, some other candidates who applied for an extension of their US study visa had their applications returned for the reason of not providing social network information, including account name or website link. Require the defendant to fill this information in the DS-160 and submit it to the system.
This shows that interview and visa issuance activities in Vietnam may still be taking place normally, not temporarily, currently only the registration of interview and visa applications are affected.
According to Mr. Thang, international students and parents should not worry too much, but should calmly follow the information. "A complete ban on studying abroad in the US is a very unlikely thing to happen," Mr. Thang emphasized.
At the same time, Mr. Thang also said that at this time, if they intend to study abroad in the US, students should also review their social media accounts to avoid posting distorted and negative content.
