US To Seek Social Media Details From All Visa Applicants (bloomberg.com)

According to Bloomberg, the State Department wants to require all U.S. visa applicants to submit their social media usernames, previous email addresses and phone numbers. From the report: In documents to be published in Friday's Federal Register, the department said it wants the public to comment on the proposed new requirements, which will affect nearly 15 million foreigners who apply for visas to enter the U.S. each year. The new rules would apply to virtually all applicants for immigrant and non-immigrant visas. The department estimates it would affect 710,000 immigrant visa applicants and 14 million non-immigrant visa applicants, including those who want to come to the U.S. for business or education, according to the documents. If the requirements are approved by the Office of Management and Budget, applications for all visa types would list a number of social media platforms and require the applicant to provide any account names they may have had on them over the previous five years. It would also give the applicant the option to volunteer information about social media accounts on platforms not listed in the application. In addition to their social media histories, visa applicants will be asked for five years of previously used telephone numbers, email addresses, international travel and deportation status, as well as whether any family members have been involved in terrorist activities. Only applicants for certain diplomatic and official visa types may be exempted from the requirements, the documents said.

Comments

Re:Tourists don't need Visa's

[ClickOnThis]

You don't need a Visa for vacation, you need a passport from your country of residence. Visa's are required for school or working in the US.

Correct, as long as your country of citizenship (not residence) is in the visa-waiver program. Otherwise you need a visa to visit the USA.

Re: A better idea:

[c6gunner]

You may want to look up the meaning of the word "generally".

Or you could try scrolling further down on the page you linked, to where it says:

"Citizens of Canada and Bermuda do not require visas to enter the United States, for visit, tourism and temporary business travel purposes"

Re:Enough is enough

[gl4ss]

the food is good though.

it's not a bad place to visit. just don't go outside in underwear to be shot and all that.

anyways, who do you think they'll catch with this? you think
someone will put on a twitter they're tweeting ISIS threats from?

or a phone number they've been sending bomb threats? besides the phone numbers in lot of countries get reused often. it's more likely they will have false positives than actual positives - well that and retards terrorists who are seriously retarded anyways.