The United States has implemented a significant change in its visa application process, effective immediately, which could have far-reaching implications for individuals worldwide. All applicants for F, M, or J nonimmigrant visas are now required to adjust the privacy settings of their personal social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the U.S.
The U.S. Mission Nigeria highlighted this policy shift on X, stating, “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. Since 2019, the United States has required visa applicants to provide social media identifiers on immigrant and nonimmigrant visa application forms.” This move underscores the U.S.’s stance that every visa adjudication is a national security decision.
The policy has sparked discussions online. The requirement to make personal accounts public may raise concerns about privacy and the potential exposure of individuals’ online activities to scrutiny. As the international community digests this development, the impact on visa applicants from Nigeria and beyond remains a topic of keen interest.
