New York/Washington, 4 Dec

The US government has expanded screening and vetting measures for H-1B visa applicants and their H-4 dependents, directing them to keep the privacy settings on all their social media profiles set to “public”.

In a new order issued on Wednesday, the State Department said that from 15 December, a review of the online presence of all H-1B applicants and their dependents will be conducted. Students and exchange visitors were already subject to such scrutiny, which has now been extended to include those applying for H-1B and H-4 visas.

“To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for H-1B and their dependents (H-4), F, M and J nonimmigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public’,” the State Department said.

Underscoring that a US visa is a privilege and not a right, the department said it uses all available information in screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible or pose a threat to America’s national security or public safety. “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” it said.

The department said the US “must be vigilant” to ensure applicants do not intend to harm Americans and that all visa applicants credibly establish eligibility and intent to comply with the terms of their admission.

The directive is the latest in a series of steps by the Trump administration to tighten immigration rules. The administration has launched a crackdown to check abuse of the H-1B programme, used largely by US technology companies to hire foreign workers. Indian professionals, including tech workers and physicians, form one of the largest groups of H-1B visa holders.

In September, US President Donald Trump issued a proclamation titled ‘Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers’, imposing a one-time USD 100,000 fee on new H-1B work visas, an order that could significantly impact Indian workers seeking temporary employment in the US.

Separately, Washington has paused with immediate effect Green Card, US citizenship and other immigration applications for people from 19 “countries of concern”, following the shooting of National Guard soldiers by an Afghan national. A policy memorandum issued on Tuesday directs the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to “place on hold”, effective immediately, all asylum applications, regardless of nationality, pending a comprehensive review.

The pause also applies to all immigration applications from nationals of 19 countries previously covered by the administration’s travel ban: Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Yemen.

The applications will be on hold “pending a comprehensive review, regardless of entry date”, the directive said.

The new guidance follows the shooting of US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and US Air Force Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24. Beckstrom succumbed to her injuries, Trump said on Thursday during a Thanksgiving call with service members, while Wolfe remains in critical condition. The accused, Lakanwal, 29, had entered the US through ‘Operation Allies Welcome’, a Biden-era programme for Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban takeover in 2021.