Visitors to U.S. required to show past 5 years of social media

Dec. 10 (UPI) — Visitors to the United States may be required to share the last five years of their social media history, whether or not they are from a country that requires a visa under a new proposed rule.

The proposal was posted on the Federal Register by the Department of Homeland Security, and Americans can comment for the next 60 days. Visitors would also be asked to provide all phone numbers and addresses for the past five years, as well as information about family members.

A rule that began in 2019 requires visa applicants list their social media accounts. Since June, Customs and Border Protection has required the social media accounts of visa applicants to be made public.

Residents of countries in the visa waiver program, which includes countries like Germany, France, Israel, South Korea and Britain, now use the Electronic System for Travel Authorizations, which has been in place since 2007. Visitors complete the ESTA application via a website.

The new rule will decommission the website and only allow visitors to use an ESTA app to apply.

“CBP believes that moving to a mobile-only approach for ESTA submissions will both enhance security and improve efficiency,” the notice said.

“The ESTA Mobile application provides superior identity verification methods, including liveness detection, facial recognition and Near Field Communication (NFC)-based passport scanning/electronic chip verification. Applying for an ESTA on the website does not allow NFC verification of an ePassport, unlike when using the mobile app,” it said.

These new hurdles for tourists may become acute during the FIFA World Cup June 11-July 19, with games hosted in Canada, Mexico and the United States. But in November, Trump announced a new PASS program, which would make visa applications for World Cup visitors faster.

“Basically, people will self-censor, and they avoid coming to the U.S. altogether, and that affects tourism, business and America’s global reputation,” Farshad Owji, past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the Washington Post.

“Having the citizenship of an ESTA country doesn’t necessarily mean that person has a political view that is aligned with the current administration’s view,” Owji said.