US strict visa rule kicks in, applicants need to submit social media info

Washington: Under new rules laid down by the State Department, nearly all US visa applicants need to submit their social media details, news agency IANS reported.

Applicants need to submit social media names, five years' worth of email addresses and phone numbers.

Serious immigration consequences have been laid down for those who fake about their social media.

According to the BBC, people travelling to the US to work or study need to hand over their information but certain diplomatic and official applicants would be exempted from the new rule.

Last year, when the regulation was proposed it was evaluated that around 14.7 million people annually would be affected by the stringent measure.

"We are constantly working to find mechanisms to improve our screening processes to protect the US citizens while supporting legitimate travel to the United States," the department reportedly said.

Earlier, this strict scrutinising was only restricted to people who had been to parts of the world controlled by terrorist groups. But now, account names of the listed social media platforms need to be provided by the applicants. Apart from the listed, an applicant has to volunteer with the details of any other account which he/she holds.

The idea was first proposed in March 2018 by the Trump administration but it was opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The Union said: ''There is no evidence that such social media monitoring is effective or fair and said it would cause people to self-censor themselves online''.

Cracking down on immigrants was the key resounding motto of Donald Trump during the 2016 election campaign.