By Sumayya
WASHINGTON, The United States has decided to further expand scrutiny of visa applicants’ online activities. From Oct 1, nonimmigrant visa applicants in the I, TN and TD categories will also be included in the social media screening process.
The change will directly affect foreign media representatives, certain professionals working under an agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, and their family members. According to the US State Department, applicants in these visa categories will be instructed to keep the privacy settings of all their social media profiles public or open, allowing relevant authorities to review publicly available online information during the visa vetting process. I visas are generally issued to foreign media representatives working in journalism, radio, film, print media or other related fields who travel temporarily to the United States to perform their professional duties.
TN visas are available to citizens of Canada and Mexico who are eligible to work temporarily in the United States in designated professions under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.
TD visas are used for certain family members of TN visa holders, namely spouses and unmarried minor children. Of the three categories, the I visa is particularly significant for journalists and other eligible media professionals.
TN visas are not available to citizens of some countries because basic eligibility for the category is linked to Canadian or Mexican citizenship. The new announcement did not provide a specific list of social media posts that applicants must delete.
It also did not state that a visa would necessarily be denied if a particular type of post were found. It may be recalled that social media screening was made mandatory for visa applications during President Trump’s first term. Although President Biden revoked most of Donald Trump’s measures through executive orders after taking office, social media screening for visas was not ended.
