Will Visa Applicants for the USA have to reveal their Social Media Identities in future?

The U.S. Department of State is aiming for Visa applicants to answer supplemental questions, including information about social media. A 30-Day notice has been published in November in order to gather opinions from all interested individuals and organizations. The goal is to establish a legal basis for the “proper collection of all information necessary to rigorously evaluate all grounds of inadmissibility or deportability, or grounds for the denial of other immigration benefits”.

In concrete terms, applicants are supposed to reveal their social media identifiers used during the last five years. The State Department stresses the fact that “the collection of social media platforms and identifiers will not be used to deny visas based on applicants’ race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, political views, gender, or sexual orientation.”

Meanwhile, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has submitted its comments asking for withdrawal of the proposal to collect social media identifiers and for review of the appropriateness of using social media to make visa determinations.

EPIC not only critizes the lack of transparency as it is “not clear how the State Department intends to use the social media identifiers” and further continues that “the benefits for national security” don’t seem precise. The organization also expresses concerns because the collection of these data enable enhanced profiling and tracking of individuals as well as large scale surveillance of innocent people, maybe even leading to secret profiles.

It remains to be seen how the situation develops and how the public opinion influences the outcome.