US immigration service wants social media handles of visa applicants
US immigration service wants social media handles of visa applicants
USCIS said it was looking to make the change to comply with President Donald Trump's executive orders.
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This is not new. I believe they've been doing this as far back as Obama (although it might have been less widespread back then).
What happens if you don’t have any mainstream social media accounts? What happens if you say you don’t have any mainstream social media accounts? What happens if you give them a the handle of a respectable “friend’s” account? How far do they go to actually verify or enforce this?
I did go through this on 2022 with no real social media presence. I just didn't add anything to that section of DS160 and got through the process with no issues
People going through US immigration (I did this maybe ~20 years ago as a student) will just make a temp, low-use account or something similar.
Doesn't make it any less wrong. They don't need it, so they shouldn't be allowed to ask.
Don't understand how this is wrong, they're asking for your @ not your login. They're doing a background check on you regardless so say for Facebook they're just going to look you up anyway this just shortens the process.
If it's a public facing account I don't get what's so "wrong" about this
If you're on US soil, you have a constitutional protection against unreasonable searches, and the law is very clear about what you must provide and in what circumstances. It varies a little by area, but even in "stop and ID" states, cops generally need "reasonable suspicion" (strict legal definition) that you have, are about to, or are in the process of committing a crime. ID is limited to state issued ID, and in many areas you don't even need to provide that, only verbally assert your name and DOB.
If the government wants additional information from me, they need an arrest and/or warrant. Or they can do their own investigation without an arrest or warrant.
Those constitutional protections should apply to visa applicants as well. If the government wants additional data, they should do a background check. They should not be able to demand things unnecessary to process the visa application like social media handles, groups they associate with, etc, because that's a constitutional violation.
Explain to me why this should apply to a visa applicant? They are not here yet, they are still within their country and want to enter here so your "on American soil" argument doesn't make sense. Seems pretty reasonable to me to be actually vetting people who enter a country. By actual investigative means and not arbitrary ones.
Yes, we should absolutely be vetting people, but we should also be following the law. They should be able to ask for extra information, but applicants should be informed that they are not obligated to provide it, and decisions should not be based on whether that information is provided. However, it could be decided based on whether the immigration officer has enough information to approve or deny entry, and that extra information could be useful in tipping that balance (i.e. if they can't find your SM and found other sketchy stuff).
What kind of a message does it send if we have different standards depending on which side of the border you're on? That's incredibly dumb.
What kind of a message does it send if we have different standards depending on which side of the border you're on? That's incredibly dumb
No, that's called being a sovereign nation. Every country treats its citizens differently from outsiders, it's literally the entire point.