The US Embassy in India has announced that applicants for non-immigrant visas for F, M and J should make public their social media accounts.
The new guidelines seek to help authorities verify the identity and eligibility of applicants under US law. The US Embassy said all visa application reviews were “national security decisions.”
“As soon as possible, all individuals applying for a non-immigrant visa for F, M, or J will be requested to adjust all privacy settings on their individual social media accounts to “public.”
Under the new rules, Indian students and other students planning to enroll in occupation or exchange programs are required to ensure that their social media profiles are made public before submitting their visa application. Refusing to set your account to “public” could be a basis for your denial.
The embassy noted that the US has been requiring visa applicants to provide social media identifiers on immigration and non-immigration visa applications since 2019.
He also said that all parts of “available” information are being used as part of visa screening and review to identify visa applicants deemed unacceptable to the country, including those pose a threat to its national security. However, I didn’t know what these steps would ask for.
Similar directives have been issued by other US embassies around the world, and the US embassies in Mexico state that they must list all social media usernames or handles for all platforms that visa applicants have used for the past five years.
The development comes weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered embassies around the world to suspend scheduling student visa bookings to expand social media reviews for such applicants. Last week, the US State Department said it was reopening the process, but there were new steps that required applicants to unlock social media accounts for government review.
“The United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission to the United States do not harm Americans and our national interests, and all applicants ensure that they can reliably establish the eligibility of the required visa, including engaging in activities that match the conditions for entry,” he said.
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