New US tourist visa rule: Share your social media history before you travel

The US has expanded its digital vetting rules, bringing visitor visas and visa-waiver travellers under mandatory social media disclosure requirements

Applying for a tourist visa to the US now comes with a new step: Travellers must disclose their social media history before entering the country. The rule covers all foreign visitors, including Indians and even those from visa-exempt nations. A notice in the US Federal Register said the Trump administration plans to require five years of social media identifiers from every tourist.

 

Sukanya Raman, immigration attorney and country head at Davies & Associates, said the update is already visible on the forms. “Yes, they have also uploaded the forms to share details of all the social media handles for visitor visas as well,” she told Business Standard.

 

 

Palak Gupta, Advocate at Jotwani Associates, said the rule is not targeted at Indians. “From the standpoint of US immigration authorities, the enhanced vetting of social-media identifiers applies uniformly to all foreign nationals. It forms part of a broader US strategy to modernise background checks and mitigate the perceived limitations of traditional document-based verification. Compliance is therefore mandatory for Indian visit-visa applicants, just as it is for applicants from any other country.  Non-disclosure, incomplete disclosure, or providing inaccurate identifiers may be treated as material misrepresentation, which can lead to visa refusal under section 212(a)(6)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” she told Business Standard.

 

The update comes at a time when H-1B visa interviews in India have been pushed to March because of expanded social media scrutiny.

 

What legal challenges has the rule faced?

 

The policy is also facing challenges in US courts.

 

“The US policy mandating social media scrutiny for visa applicants has faced legal challenges primarily focused on First Amendment rights (freedom of speech and association) and administrative law (Administrative Procedure Act). Same has been highlighted in a case before the US District Court for District of Columbia in Doc Society v. Blinken (formerly Doc Society v. Pompeo or Doc Society v. Rubio),” Gupta said.

 

She added that the core of the dispute lies in concerns about mass surveillance. “While the policy's implementation dates back to 2019 for the mandatory disclosure of social media handles and was recently expanded in scope, the key legal challenges have centred on the fundamental constitutionality of this mass surveillance,” she explained.

 

What changes for visa-waiver travellers?

 

According to Bloomberg, citing a Department of Homeland Security notice, US Customs and Border Protection is also “adding social media as a mandatory data element” for travellers under the Visa Waiver Programme.

 

This affects visitors from around 40 countries, including the UK, Ireland, France, Australia and Japan, who can enter the US for up to 90 days using an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). The current ESTA requires only basic biographical information and a $40 (£30) fee.

 

Under the proposal, travellers would need to provide:

 

• Social media identifiers from the past five years

• Telephone numbers used over the last five years

• Email addresses used over the past ten years

• Names and addresses of family members

 

The notice refers to an executive order titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats”, issued by Trump in January.

 

Which visas require social media disclosure?

 

The US State Department said in a notification dated December 3 that expanded social media screening will apply from December 15 to H-1B visa applicants and their H-4 dependants. Students and exchange visitors seeking F, M and J visas already follow the same instruction.

 

“To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for H-1B and their dependents (H-4), F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public’,” the State Department said.

 

Now even visitor visa has been added to the list.

 

“Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” the department said, adding that the United States “must be vigilant” and ensure applicants intend to comply with the terms of their stay.

 

The directive now brings all major US non-immigrant categories used by Indian professionals and students under the same online presence review.

 

At the border, CBP is also preparing to gather additional information such as phone numbers, email addresses and details of family members, in line with the Department of Homeland Security notice.

 

How is the US expanding digital checks across categories?

 

The US has already expanded similar rules earlier this year.

 

• In June, the State Department instructed student visa applicants to make their social media profiles public.

• The US Embassy in India separately reminded visa applicants to disclose all social media usernames used in the past five years.

• It also warned that failing to provide correct information could result in visa refusal and future ineligibility.

 

“Visa applicants are required to list all social media usernames or handles of every platform they have used from the last five years on the DS-160 visa application form. Applicants certify that the information in their visa application is true and correct before they sign and submit,” the US Embassy said in a statement shared on X in June.

 

Last week, the State Department said the “online presence review” would extend to H-1B applicants and their dependants. Soon after, the US Embassy in India postponed H-1B visa interviews scheduled for later this month, causing widespread disruption for workers planning travel.