US plans to require 5 years of social media history from foreign tourists

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to require applicants for the ESTA visa waiver program to provide social media information from the last five years, a notice showed Wednesday, in a move to tighten screening for foreigners’ entry into the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted the notice in the Federal Register to obtain public comments for 60 days regarding the proposal to collect social media data, and request other pieces of additional information, such as applicants’ biometrics, including DNA and iris scans. The proposal is in line with an executive order that Trump signed in January to protect the U.S. from “foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats.” If implemented, it is expected to subject applicants to tighter scrutiny. ESTA stands for electronic system for travel authorization. The proposal calls for adding social media as a “mandatory” data element for an ESTA application. Under it, CBP also seeks to add several “high value data fields” to the ESTA application, “when feasible,” accordi

Read Full Article