The Trump administration has moved to formalize a crackdown on the issuance of visas for people who it deems to have engaged in censoring the free speech of US citizens.

The action, detailed in a state department memo sent to overseas missions this week, first reported by Reuters and then NPR, directs consular officials to deny visas to any applicant “responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the US”.

The order, which state department officials have not denied, requires enhanced vetting of applicants “to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others”, Reuters reported.

It will initially focus on applicants for H-1B visas, usually given to highly skilled foreign workers in the technology industry among other sectors, but is applicable to all visa applications, the news agency added.

The directive is the latest in a number of recent moves by Donald Trump to restrict legal immigration to the US through consular avenues, and hardens a promise made by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in May to bar entry to the US to anybody perceived to be suppressing the free speech “essential to the American way of life”.

In a post on X at the time, Rubio wrote: “Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country. Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.”

According to NPR, which said the memo was sent to US foreign stations on Tuesday, diplomatic officials are instructed to turn down visa applications from anybody who worked on factchecking, content moderation “or other activities the Trump administration considers ‘censorship’ of Americans’ speech”.

They must scrutinize for evidence an applicant’s work history, including going through their LinkedIn profiles and other social media accounts, and looking for mentions in media articles of “activities including combatting misinformation, disinformation or false narratives, content moderation, compliance, and trust and safety”.

If evidence emerges to indicate to a vetting officer that an individual was engaged in censorship activities, “you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible [for a visa]”, the memo states.

Despite having the support of many tech company billionaires, Trump has singled out the industry for criticism and reprisals for banning him from social media platforms including Twitter (before it became X) and Facebook following the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot in Washington DC.

Many H1-B visa applicants, especially from India, work in the field of technology. In September, the president introduced a $100,000 fee for new applicants for the visa classification, a move analysts said at the time could stifle economic growth in the US and provoke a “brain drain” to other countries.

This week’s visa restrictions will have other negative impacts, according to experts.

“I’m alarmed that trust and safety work is being conflated with ‘censorship’,” Alice Goguen Hunsberger, vice-president of trust and safety at PartnerHero, told NPR.

“Trust and safety is a broad practice which includes critical and life-saving work to protect children and stop child sexual abuse material, as well as preventing fraud, scams, and sextortion.

“Having global workers at tech companies in [trust and safety] absolutely keeps Americans safer.”

The Guardian contacted the White House for comment.

In a statement, a state department spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on allegedly leaked documents, make no mistake, the Administration has made clear that it defends Americans’ freedom of expression against foreigners who wish to censor them. We do not support aliens coming to the US to work as censors muzzling Americans.

“In the past, the President himself was the victim of this kind of abuse when social media companies locked his accounts. He does not want other Americans to suffer this way. Allowing foreigners to lead this type of censorship would both insult and injure the American people.”