After the introduction of new rules, the number of American visa refusals will increase - lawyers

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Last thing innovation, which allows the State Department to request social network data for the last 5 years from people who receive a US visa, will lead to delays in issuing visas and an increase in the number of denials, says Stephen Yale-Löhr, professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School.

“In essence, the new form is a “light” version presidential ban on drivingd, and it’s much more difficult to fight,” says Yale-Lehr.

The new rules allow the Department of State to also ask for the numbers of all previously issued foreign passports for a visa applicant, as well as to be interested in its detailed biography for 15 years, including data on employment and travel to different countries of the world.

At the same time, lawyers are concerned that the consular officers will still have to make a decision about issuing a visa quickly enough and will be able to miss those people who intend to harm the United States.

Adam Schwartz, Attorney at Law Digital Frontier Foundation, emphasizes: potential visitors to the United States were not previously notified that everything they said on social networks for the last 5 or more years could be used against them.

"They didn't think about what might look suspicious to a consular official," Schwartz said.

“A lot of people have opinions about what's going on in this country, but that doesn't mean they hate America. If someone said "America is bad" online 2 years ago, does that mean they can't get a visa?" asks Reese Jafri, head of the law firm's immigration practice. Withers Worldwide in New York.

He is concerned that those who are really planning to harm the United States "are not going to give you mail in which they discuss their plans."

The State Department says the reasons for US visa denials will not change. Thus, visas will not be issued in cases of fraud, past convictions, links with terrorist groups, previous immigration violations, infectious diseases and drug abuse. “Personal political beliefs are not grounds for refusal, even if we disagree with that belief,” Cox said.

Pressure on social networks

After a terrorist drove in in a truck to the crowd near the British Parliament in March, killing three people, lawmakers promised to meet with representatives Google, Facebook and Twitterwho, according to them, have done too little to fight the terrorists who used their social networks for propaganda and communication.

In May, relatives the victims the San Bernardino terrorist act in 2015 was sued by tech companies for not working enough to stem the wave of terrorist propaganda on the Internet that helped radicalize Syed Rizvan Faruk and his wife Tashfin Malik.

However, the State Department has always had the opportunity to analyze social networks, according to Stephen Yale-Löhr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School.

“U.S. government agencies already check people's social media profiles,” he says.

Data released last month by the State Department showed that the United States this year issued 20% fewer visas to residents of Muslim countries compared to the monthly average for 2016 a year.

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