US plans to mandate social media checks for visa-free travellers

By Jon Herskovitz

 

The US is proposing that foreign visitors provide their social media history over the last five years to enter the country, including those from Australia, Germany, Japan and the UK who can now enter without a visa.

 

US Customs and Border Protection “is adding social media as a mandatory data element” as part of the screening process for travellers entering the US under the Visa Waiver Programme, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice posted on Wednesday. The proposal was given a 60-day notice with requests for comments. 

 

It would apply to travellers from about 40 countries who can stay in the US for up to 90 days without a visa and are screened before travel under an electronic system known as ESTA. 

 

The plan is the latest in a series of measures from the Trump administration aimed at restricting entry. This has included a planned travel ban for around 30 countries announced this month following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington. 

 

Federal authorities have identified the suspect as an Afghan national who worked with US forces and the CIA in Afghanistan before arriving in the US in 2021. President Donald Trump and his allies have seized on the case, blaming the Biden administration for allowing him into the country and pushing for tighter limits on migrants.

 

Trump in a post on social media following the shooting said that he would move to “permanently” pause migration from “all Third World Countries.”

 

The US will also launch a “comprehensive re-review” of approvals granted to people from those nations who entered on or after the start of President Joe Biden’s term in 2021, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a policy memo.

 

The State Department said in December it would expand social media review requirements for H-1B visas for high-skilled workers, urging applicants and dependents “to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public.’” In June, it ordered a review of student visa applicants’ social media presence.

 

The US has been on track for a sharp decline in foreign visitors and spending by tourists this year. Data from May indicated the country is set to lose $12.5 billion in travel revenue in 2025, with visitor spending estimated to fall under $169 billion by year’s end.

 

The country is also set for its first drop in foreign tourists in about five years, with some 67.9 million visits forecast for this year, down from 72.4 million in 2024, the US Travel Association said.

 

The US was the only one of 184 global economies analyzed by the World Travel & Tourism Council and Oxford Economics in the study from May projected to lose tourism dollars this year.

 

The decline was attributed to lingering Covid-era travel requirements, a strong dollar, and a shift in people’s views of the US due to the Trump administration’s “America First” rhetoric and policy, it said.