Doha: The US Department of State has updated its immigrant and non-immigrant visa application forms to request additional information, including social media identifiers, from most US visa applicants.
These changes went into effect on May 31, said a statement issued by a US Embassy spokesperson in Qatar, yesterday.
This update which we initially announced last year in the Federal Register is a result of the President’s March 6, 2017, Memorandum on Implementing Heightened Screening and Vetting of Applications for Visas and other Immigration Benefits and Section 5 of Executive Order 13780 regarding implementing uniform screening and vetting standards for visa applications.
“National security is our top priority when adjudicating visa applications, and every prospective traveller and immigrant to the US undergoes extensive security screening. We are constantly working to find mechanisms to improve our screening processes to protect US citizens,” said the statement.
