According to a proposal released by US Customs and Border Protection on the 10th in the US government's Federal Register, the Trump administration plans to require visitors from visa waiver countries and regions to provide social media history records from the past five years.
According to this proposal, US Customs and Border Protection will make social media information a mandatory item in the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) application form, requiring applicants to provide social media details from the past five years. Previously, this data item was marked as 'optional.'
The department stated that public comments on this proposal should be submitted within 60 days.
The proposal indicates that, 'where feasible,' US Customs and Border Protection will add other requirements to the ESTA application form, such as applicants' biometric information (like fingerprints), phone numbers used in the past five years, email addresses used in the past ten years, as well as information regarding applicants' family members.
This proposal concerns travelers from dozens of countries and regions participating in the US Visa Waiver Program who apply for travel authorization to the US via the ESTA system. These countries and regions include most European countries, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, etc. Visitors from these countries and regions may travel to the US for up to 90 days without a visa after obtaining ESTA authorization.
Since January of this year, the US government has intensified its crackdown on illegal immigration and strengthened the review process for all types of visa applicants and current visa holders. On December 9, the US State Department stated that the US has revoked 85,000 visas since January. US media cited State Department officials as saying that this figure is more than double that of last year.