Applicants for US Visa need to provide 5-year social media details

As proposed by the Trump administration, the US visa form requires most of the US visa applicants, including tourists to submit their social media details for the past five years. This is needed, as part of the strategy to improve screening of potential immigrants and visitors.

The revised US visa forms, which was first proposed in March 2018, require most visa applicants, including tourists, to furnish their social media usernames, previous email addresses and phone numbers as part of the application process. However, some diplomats and officials are likely to be exempted from the requirements.

According to the report, the revised norms could affect up to 15 million travelers who apply for visas to enter the United States each year. Previously, this enhanced screening information had only been required for applicants who visited terrorist-controlled areas. Nearly 65,000 people per-year had fallen into that category.

These new hurdles to immigration come days after the Trump administration moved proposal to ban the practice of granting work permits to H-4 visa holders, mostly spouses of H-1B visa holders. On May 22, the US government issued a notice to kick-off public consultations for the proposed rule.