New Delhi: In a move to tighten security screening, U.S. visa applicants are now required to disclose all social media usernames they've used over the past five years on the DS-160 application form, failing to do so could result in immediate denial and possible ineligibility for future visas.
"Omitting social media information could lead to visa denial and ineligibility for future visas," said US embassy in India in a post on X.
This moves comes after the US Embassy in India announced new visa screening measures for applicants under the F, M, and J non-immigrant visa categories. The embassy directed all student and exchange visitor applicants to set their social media profiles to “public” to support identity verification and admissibility checks.
The new measures will impact them as most are on at least one of the social media platforms like X, Instagram, TikTok, or Linkedin.
Latest rules for DS-160 application form are some of the measures among many, either introduced or reinforced, in the last few months impacting Indian students either studying or considering studying in the US.
These restrictions include further tightening of student visa rules; heightened scrutiny of students’ records, including social media posts; student and exchange visitor information system (SEVIS) record glitches; and increased scrutiny at ports of entry.
