US embassy to check social media of visa applicants

MANILA, Philippines — The United States embassy is asking Filipinos applying for a US visa to set their social media accounts privacy settings to public for vetting process.

“Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M or J non immigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under US law,” the embassy said in a notice.

The new State Department guidelines require foreigners seeking to study in the US to make public their social media profiles to allow screening.

“We use all available information in our visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to US national security,” the embassy said.