If you are dreaming of working in America and are standing in the line for H-1B visa, then be careful. Now just passing the interview or knowing coding will not be enough, but your ‘Facebook Timeline’ and ‘Instagram Reels’ will also be seen. In a major change in visa rules, the Trump administration has made ‘social media screening’ mandatory for H-1B and H-4 visa applicants.
According to the new order of the US State Department, this rule is coming into effect from Monday (December 15). The department has said in clear words that those applying for H-1B (working visa) and H-4 (dependent visa) will have to change the privacy settings of all their social media profiles to public. This means that if you have locked your account or it is private, then there may be difficulty in getting a visa. Authorities need complete information about your online activities so that they can investigate you easily.
After students, now it’s the turn of professionals
America’s argument: ‘Visa is not a right, it is a privilege’
The Trump administration’s logic behind this strictness is national security. The State Department has clarified that getting a US visa is not a right, but a privilege. The department says that they want to use every available information to ensure that the person entering America is not a threat to the security of the country. Every visa application is now being seen as a national security decision.
New series of Trump’s strict policies
This step is the latest example of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. The administration had recently also proposed to impose a one-time fee of $ 1,00,000 (about Rs 84 lakh) on the new H-1B work visa. After the incident of firing on National Guard soldiers by an Afghan citizen, America has banned green card and citizenship applications of immigrants coming from 19 countries of concern with immediate effect. This news has brought another challenge for Indian professionals, who are the largest group of H-1B visas. Now character certificate of ‘social media’ has also become necessary to get a ticket to America.
