In a significant tightening of immigration vetting, the US government has expanded screening measures for H-1B visa applicants and their H-4 dependents, instructing them to keep all social media profiles set to “public.” The new directive, issued by the State Department on Wednesday, will take effect from December 15 and involves a detailed review of applicants’ online presence.
While students and exchange visitors were already subjected to such monitoring, the requirement has now been extended to those applying for H-1B and H-4 visas. “To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for H-1B and their dependents (H-4), F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public’,” the State Department said.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Reiterating that a US visa is “a privilege and not a right,” the department said it relies on all available information to identify individuals who may be inadmissible or pose risks to national security. “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” it stated, stressing the need for vigilance in ensuring that applicants do not intend to harm Americans and that they meet eligibility requirements.
The latest directive aligns with the Trump administration’s broader push to tighten immigration controls and crack down on perceived misuse of the H-1B programme, which is widely used by US technology companies to hire skilled foreign workers. Indian professionals—including IT specialists, engineers, and doctors—remain among the largest groups of H-1B visa holders and are expected to be heavily impacted by the new rules.
(This story is published from a syndicated feed)
