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The Trump administration has rolled out a new questionnaire for U.S. visa applicants worldwide that asks for social media handles for the last five years and biographical information going back 15 years.
The new questions, part of an effort to tighten vetting of would-be visitors to the United States, was approved on May 23 by the Office of Management and Budget despite criticism from a range of education officials and academic groups during a public comment period.
Critics argued that the new questions would be overly burdensome, lead to long delays in processing and discourage international students and scientists from coming to the United States.
Under the new procedures, consular officials can request all prior passport numbers, five years' worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers and 15 years of biographical information including addresses, employment and travel history.
Officials will request the additional information when they determine "that such information is required to confirm identity or conduct more rigorous national security vetting," a State Department official said on Wednesday.
The State Department said earlier the tighter vetting would apply to visa applicants "who have been determined to warrant additional scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday June 04 2017, @08:17AM
Every day I'm working to keep my promises to you, the American people. I've gone to the Middle East. I've gone to Israel. I've gone to the Vatican. And I've gone to Germany. Making the best deals for you. Because when I make deals, America comes first. Always, always first. And you know, folks, the deal we have with Germany is a bad one. Really bad. They're killing us on trade. Very unfair. That's going to change. That's going to stop. Or renegotiate, going to renegotiate. Like The Apprentice. I renegotiated and now I'm the President. Nobody can make deals like I can. I'm really, really great. Believe me. Look, we've got to get control over our borders. But judges are a problem. That Mexican judge in Indiana was a problem and so was that judge in Hawaii. On an island in the Pacific, I'm told. But he was a problem, somehow. Amazing! Very hard to ban Muslims, because of bad judges. I mean, not banning Muslims. It's not a ban. It's an executive order. Hard to do it, because of those judges. To do it legally. So we're doing this, the phones and the email. And the wall. To control our borders. Because if we can't control our borders, what are we? Look at what happened in Sweden tonight. They lost control of their borders, and look what happened. I think Islam hates us. There's something there that - there's a tremendous hatred there. We can’t allow people coming into this country who have this hatred of the United States. So we're checking their phones, and email. And their Twitter. I've got tremendous support on Twitter, over 60 million followers. Just a hint, for anyone wanting a visa. So we're using the phones, the e-mails, and the Twitters. To stop the hate. To stop it right at the border. To make the U.S.A. a safe place. To keep out the hate. #MAGA