NEW DELHI: With US pausing new student visa interviews, government expressed hope that visa applications of Indian students would be treated on merit to allow them to join their academic programmes without any delay. The Trump administration earlier this week ordered US missions to stop scheduling new appointments for student visas, while also announcing social media vetting of foreign students.“While visa policy and issuing of visas is a sovereign function, we believe that all applications submitted by Indian students should be considered on their merit so that our students can reach universities in US on time to join their academic programmes,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.He said in 2023-24, around 3,30,000 Indian students went to US for education. US embassy here had cautioned Indian students this week that skipping classes or dropping out without informing the school could lead to the revocation of their visas.He provided an update on deportation of illegal immigrants from US, saying since Jan, 1,080 such Indian nationals have been deported.