The Trump administration plans to make it a should for overseas vacationers to supply 5 years of their social media historical past earlier than being allowed to enter the US, in keeping with a discover printed within the Federal Register. This comes whilst H-1B visa interviews in India have been postpone until March amid widened social media scrutiny.
US Customs and Border Safety “is including social media as a compulsory knowledge component” as a part of the screening course of for travellers getting into the US below the Visa Waiver Programme, Bloomberg reported, citing a Division of Homeland Safety discover posted on Wednesday.
The rule would cowl guests from roughly 40 visa-waiver nations who can keep within the US for as much as 90 days and are pre-screened via the Digital System for Journey Authorisation (ESTA) utility, in keeping with the report.
The Visa Waiver Program spans dozens of countries, amongst them most of Europe, in addition to Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Brunei, Singapore, Qatar, Israel, and Chile.
Moreover, Customs and Border Safety would add different new knowledge assortment fields, together with e mail addresses and phone numbers used within the final 5 years, in addition to the addresses and names of members of the family, in keeping with the discover.
Although it could not apply to Indians, the US has imposed comparable necessities on many visa classes that have an effect on Indians in search of US visas, together with vacationer visas.
Ever since Donald Trump assumed workplace for the second time, the US has handed quite a lot of immigration-related govt orders to curb the influx of migrants. Within the run-up to final 12 months’s presidential polls, Trump vowed to deal with border and immigration crackdowns.
US TIGHTENS DIGITAL CHECKS AS SOCIAL MEDIA DISCLOSURE SPREADS ACROSS VISA CATEGORIES
The US has beforehand imposed comparable necessities on different visa classes.
It follows a June announcement by the State Division that ordered pupil visa candidates to make their social media profiles public.
Earlier in June, the US Embassy in India additionally mandated visa candidates to reveal all social media usernames and handles from the previous 5 years for background checks.
The US Embassy acknowledged that violating this might result in visa rejection and ineligibility for future visas.
“Visa candidates are required to record all social media usernames or handles of each platform they’ve used from the final 5 years on the DS-160 visa utility type. Candidates certify that the knowledge of their visa utility is true and proper earlier than they signal and submit,” the US Embassy mentioned in an announcement shared on X in June this 12 months.
Final week, the US State Division introduced that it could develop an “on-line presence evaluation” to incorporate H-1B candidates and their dependents. Subsequently, the US Embassy in India postponed H-1B visa interviews scheduled for later this month, inflicting chaos.
TIGHTER VISA SCRUTINY COULD HIT SPORTS FANS WORLDWIDE
The transfer is being seen as a part of the Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts to “improve safety and make sure the integrity” of the visa course of.
The US public has 60 days to touch upon the proposal, in keeping with the Federal Register discover.
The transfer is ready to have an effect on sports activities lovers too.
The US is ready to host FIFA World Cup matches subsequent 12 months, attracting followers from throughout the globe, together with nationals from visa-waiver nations just like the UK.
Moreover, the US will host the Summer time Olympics in 2028.
The Trump administration has additionally moved to tighten a number of authorized immigration pathways following the Washington, DC, taking pictures involving an Afghan nationwide, which left two Nationwide Guard members injured. One in all them later succumbed throughout therapy.
– Ends
Tune In
Leave a Reply