Applicants for US visa may be asked for social media history

Washington, March 31

In a broad expansion of the information gathered from applicants for US visas, the federal government is proposing to collect social media identities from nearly everyone who seeks entry into the United States, according to a State Department filing on Friday.
The proposal, which must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), would require most immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants to list on a federal application form all of the social media identities they have used in the past five years.
The information will be used to vet and identify them, according to the proposals. Previously, under rules instituted in May of 2017, consular officials were instructed to collect social media identifiers only when they determined “that such information is required to confirm identity or conduct more rigorous national security vetting”.
The proposals support President Donald Trump’s promise to institute “extreme vetting” of foreigners entering the US in order to prevent terrorism. If approved, the steps will require applicants to submit five years of previously used telephone numbers, email addresses and travel history.