US starts screening journos’ social media for visas

 
The US will start screening the social media accounts of journalists and other media workers applying for visas to enter the country.

The US Department of State announced the measure on September 18, saying the screening would apply from October 1 to applicants for I visas, which are issued to foreign journalists and other media workers travelling to the US for professional assignments. 

“To support this vetting process, all applicants for I, TD, and TN nonimmigrant visas are instructed to set the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to 'public' or 'open'," the State Department said.

Journalists and other media workers, including applicants from Bangladesh, will therefore have to make their social media profiles publicly viewable during the visa screening process.

The September 18 statement did not specify how far back applicants' social media activity would be reviewed, how long their profiles would have to remain public, or what types of online content would be considered as part of the screening.

The US has required most visa applicants to provide social media identifiers since 2019. The new measure expands social media screening to applicants for I, TN and TD nonimmigrant visas.

TN visas are issued to eligible professionals from Canada and Mexico entering the US temporarily under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), while TD visas are issued to their spouses and dependent children.