Tightened migration rules: if you want a US visa - show social networks

Most applicants for a US visa will have to show visa officers their social networks. The new rules adopted the US State Department, which changed the forms of applications for immigration and non-immigration visas, writes BBC Russian Service.

Фото: Depositphotos

Now the agency will request information about the applicant's accounts in social networks.

According to the Hill, the new rules came into force on May 31. “Collecting additional information from applicants will improve the process of verifying them and confirming their identity,” RIA Novosti quoted a State Department spokesman as saying.

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“We are continually working on mechanisms to improve our vetting procedures to protect U.S. citizens,” the department said in a statement. “At the same time, we support lawful travel to the United States.”

Who will be affected by the new rules?

Innovation will affect most categories of visas - tourist, student, workers. The Department of State made exceptions for diplomatic visas and official delegations - applicants from these categories will not have to report their pages in social networks.

The new rules will affect about 14,7 million people per year.

What is changing?

The State Department’s regulations state that applicants will have to provide information about their social networks, email addresses, and phone numbers over the past five years.

Until yesterday, when applying for a visa, only a telephone number and email address were required. At the same time, previously this data allowed any user to find a person’s accounts in some social networks, if they exist there - for example, on Facebook and VKontakte. In the case of the American social network, all you had to do was enter a phone number or email into the search bar, and the network would display the accounts associated with them. On VKontakte, the procedure was more complicated - it was necessary to use the password recovery function. As of today, the administrations of both social networks have changed their privacy settings and removed such features.

Previously, it was only necessary for applicants who were additionally checked to transfer data on their social networks to the American authorities. This applied to those who visited regions controlled by terrorist groups.

And if you are not in social networks?

Hill, citing a State Department representative, writes that the application has the opportunity to indicate that the applicant does not use social networks, but if this turns out to be untrue, he will face “serious consequences.” The State Department explained the new measures by the need to “identify terrorists, threats to public safety and other dangerous individuals” in order to prevent them from entering the country.

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In 2015, the administration of former US President Barack Obama was criticized for too lenient checks on US visa applicants - it turned out that Pakistani native Tashfeen Malik, an accomplice in the 2015 massacre in San Bernardino, California, which killed 14 people, published on her social networks posts in support of terrorists. When issuing her a visa, the American authorities did not pay attention to this.

What do human rights activists say?

The American Civil Liberties Union has already said that "there is no evidence that such social media monitoring is effective or fair" and noted that it would force people to self-censor themselves online.

Tighter requirements for obtaining a visa fit into the general outline of the White House's migration policy. US President Donald Trump is known as a fighter against illegal migration. On May 30, he promised to raise import duties on goods from Mexico until the authorities of this country solve the problem of illegal migrants. Before February 15, he introduced a state of emergency in the United States over the situation on the southern border of the country in order to bypass the congressional decision to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

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