US Visa applicants to submit previous 5 year social media data
According to the new US State Department’s new rules, almost all applicants applying for a visa, must file their social media information. According to the rules of the State Department, people will have to give their social media names and email addresses and phone numbers for up to five years of data.
Last year when this proposal came, the administration had estimated that about 1.47 crore people would be affected every year. Some diplomatic and official visa applicants have been exempt from the new rules. According to the BBC report, however, people who go to America for work or study must give their information.
The Department said, “We are continuously working to improve our investigation process to protect American citizens while supporting legal travel in America.” Earlier, only those applicants were asked to give this information, who are applying to come here from the control area of ​​terrorist organizations.
But now applicants will have to give their names on the list of social media platforms and the details of the social media platforms that are not in the list, they will have to give their accounts details themselves. According to an official, a person lying about social media accounts will have to face serious immigration proceedings.
An official told Hill TV, “It is an important step for the purpose of closely scrutinizing all the foreign nationals who apply for admission in the United States.” The official said, “As we have seen in recent years and around the world that social media can become a big platform for terrorist feelings and activities. It can be used by terrorists to cause public safety hazards and other dangerous activities. This would prove to be a tool to identify, that would not provide immigration benefits to such people”
This policy has been made in March 2017 under a mandate issued by President Donald Trump. The Ministry of External Affairs had expressed the intention to implement the policy in March 2018.
Applicants who do not use social media will have another option in it so that they can tell that they do not use it. So far this drop-down menu contains only information about major social media websites, but now it will have fields where in applicants can enter all the sites used by them. An American official told that it is an important step to closely examine all foreign nationals applying for admission in the US.
