Heads up, U.S. visa applicants! The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines has announced a significant new requirement: all individuals applying for an F, M, and J nonimmigrant visa are now required to set the privacy settings on all their social media accounts to public.
Photo: Freepik
In a statement released on June 24, the Embassy explained that this measure is intended to facilitate the vetting process necessary to establish an applicant’s identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. law.
“Since 2019, the United States has required visa applicants to provide social media identifiers on immigrant and nonimmigrant visa application forms. We use all available information in our visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to U.S. national security,” the statement read.
F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas are issued to academic students, vocational students, and exchange visitors, respectively.
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