H-1B, H-4 visas: US to begin social media vetting of applicants from Dec 15

The Trump administration will begin, on Monday (December 15), enhanced screening and vetting of H-1B and its dependent H-4 visa applicants, including checks of their social media profiles.

In a new order, the US State Department said that, from December 15, a review of the online presence for all H-1B applicants and their dependents will be conducted.

Students and exchange visitors were already subjected to this review and now the department has expanded this requirement to vet social media profiles to include H1-B applicants and their dependents on H-4 visas.

New guideline in place

“To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for H-1B and their dependents (H-4), F, M, and J non-immigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to 'public',” the State Department said.

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The F, M and J visas are used by students and exchange visitors to come to the US. Several H-1B visa holders have had their interviews in India rescheduled in the wake of this new guideline to vet their social media profiles.

Security concerns

Underscoring that a US visa is a privilege, not a right, the State Department said that it uses all available information in visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the US, including those who pose a threat to the country's national security or public safety.

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“We conduct thorough vetting of all visa applicants, including online presence review of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J non-immigrant classifications,” it said, underlining that every visa adjudication is a national security decision. The new directive is the latest move by the Trump administration in its increased crackdown on immigration.