US Orders H-1B And H-4 Visa Applicants To Make Social Media Profiles Public In Expanded Vetting

The United States has widened its scrutiny of foreign workers by ordering H-1B visa applicants and their H-4 dependents to make all their social media profiles publicly viewable, extending a vetting practice already applied to students and exchange visitors.

According to PTI, the State Department issued the directive on Wednesday, saying that from 15 December, consular officers will conduct a review of the online presence of everyone applying for H-1B and H-4 visas. Screening of F, M and J visa applicants, students and exchange visitors, was already in place and now formally includes skilled workers and their families.

“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. It reiterated that a US visa is “a privilege and not a right” and stressed that it uses “all available information” to identify individuals who may pose risks to national security or public safety. “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” it added.

PTI reported that the department framed the move as part of a broader need to ensure that applicants “credibly establish eligibility and intent to comply with the terms of their admission” and that the US “must be vigilant” about individuals who may intend to harm Americans.

The order is the latest tightening of immigration rules under the Trump administration, which has been carrying out extensive checks for abuse of the H-1B programme, used heavily by US technology firms to hire foreign professionals. Indian nationals, including tech workers and doctors, make up one of the largest groups of H-1B holders.

In September, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation titled Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers, imposing a one-time USD 100,000 fee on new H-1B work visas, a measure that PTI reported could have a significant impact on Indian workers seeking temporary employment in the US.

Separately, Washington has paused all Green Card, citizenship and other immigration applications for people from 19 “countries of concern”, following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers by an Afghan national earlier this month. The administration has also ordered an immediate hold on asylum applications from all nationalities pending a comprehensive review.

The policy memorandum, issued Tuesday, instructs US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to “place on hold”, effective immediately, all asylum claims “regardless of the immigrant’s country of nationality”. Applications from nationals of the 19 listed countries; Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Yemen, will also remain on hold “pending a comprehensive review, regardless of entry date”.

The latest directives follow the shooting of US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and US Air Force Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24. Trump said during a Thanksgiving call with service members that Beckstrom had died of her injuries, while Wolfe remains in critical condition. The accused, Lakanwal, 29, had arrived in the US through Operation Allies Welcome, the programme launched to relocate Afghan nationals after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

(With inputs from PTI)