The US government will begin enhanced screening and vetting of H-1B and its dependent H-4 visa applicants, including checks of their social media profiles, from today.
In a new order, the State Department said that, from December 15, a review of the online presence for all H-1B applicants and their dependents will be conducted. Students and exchange visitors were already subject to this review, and now the department has expanded this requirement to vet social media profiles to include H1-B applicants and their dependents on H-4 visas.
State Department said that to facilitate this vetting, all applicants for H-1B and their dependents (H-4), F, M, and J non-immigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public.” The F, M and J visas are used by students and exchange visitors to come to the US.
The new directive is the latest move by the Trump administration in its increased crackdown on immigration. The administration launched a massive crackdown to check abuse in the H-1B visa programme, which is used by companies, particularly technology companies, to employ foreign workers in the US. Indian professionals, including technology workers and physicians, are among the largest cohort of H-1B visa holders.
