The United Stated Government has implemented a new rule that allows officials to demand five years’ worth of social media profiles and 15 years of biographical information as part of a visa application, according to US media outlets. This recent change also applies to Caribbean nationals applying for US visas.
According to ABC News, the rule, took effect May 25 even as the president’s so-called travel ban remains tied up in the courts — part of Trump’s push for “extreme vetting.”
Consular officers processing visa applicants at embassies around the world can now ask applicants for social media profiles from the last five years, prior passport numbers, greater detail about family members, and longer personal history, including travel, employment and residence for the last 15 years, instead of the last five that applicants were previously asked for.
The rule applies to “immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants who have been determined to warrant additional scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities,” according to the State Department. The department estimated that this would affect 65,000 applicants a year, or 0.5 percent of all applicants — “only a fraction of 1 percent of the more than 13 million annual visa applicants worldwide,” according to a statement.
However, based on the new changes, it will be up to the individual consular officer screening the applicant to determine if he or she requires the additional questions, according to ABC News.
President Donald Trump campaigned first on a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” before pivoting to a platform of “extreme vetting” that offered few details.
Once in office, he tried to turn that rhetoric into policy with an executive order signed one week into his presidency that banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. When that ban was challenged in court and tied up, the administration issued a revised version, which also remains challenged, ABC News reported.
