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Could you please help with any insights about the social media vetting rules? This has been a blackbox to the visa applications - started with student visas, no
by saradhi 10mo ago
Could you please help with any insights about the social media vetting rules? This has been a blackbox to the visa applications - started with student visas, now being forced on work visas too from Dec 15th.
- proberts 10mo agoThat's right, both before US Consulates when applying for visas, before CBP when applying for admission, and before USCIS when applying for a benefit (H-1B, O-1, green card, etc.), social media is being reviewed, not across-the-board but more and more. And there's really no option to keep social media as private if asked to turn to public by a Consular Officer or CBP Officer. The review is broad and not limited to social media that is critical of US policy but extends to a review of an individual's entire background to make sure there were no violations of US immigration law, including unauthorized employment.
- nisegami 10mo agoCBP actually made me give them my facebook password when entering on a J1 visa in 2017, so I'm surprised to hear so much talk about this. Is it more that the practice of checking social media is more widespread now?
- barbazoo 10mo agoIf one didn’t have an account with meta they just wouldn’t get the visa then or how does it work? Does the government have any direct link to meta re what accounts people actually have. I’m surprised people aren’t up in arms about this, I guess it affects mostly visitors and immigrants but the fact that the government needs to see your activity on a private company’s web app is wild to me.
- monerozcash 10mo ago"I don't use social media" is probably a good answer, it just has to be true. If they ask you "well, do you use any social media?" You'd presumably have to answer with HN, which maybe doesn't sound all that great :)
- b112 10mo agoHN isn't social media, any more than a bus is a car.
- monerozcash 10mo agoI don't think you want to try that argument with immigration officials, although it might just keep your incorrect answer from being straight up fraud or willful misrepresentation. I mean, some US govt immigration forms asking for your social media usernames include pastebin sites like "justpaste.it". See for example: https://static.feber.se/article_images/42/10/92/421092_1280.jpg https://static.feber.se/article_images/42/10/92/421092_1280.... Knowing that, it's crystal clear HN falls strictly within that definition of "social media", although it might not be as clear if you don't know what that particular site is.
- barbazoo 10mo agoI love how bad that list is.
- monerozcash 10mo agoFor what it's worth, the somewhat hilarious reason justpaste.it is on the list is likely that it used to be a favourite of Islamic State terrorists a decade ago. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/islamic-state-twitter-110418/ https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/islamic-stat... Googling 'site:gov "justpaste.it"' also brings endless results of government documents mentioning the site in the context of terrorism. I somewhat doubt US immigration authorities thwarted any would-be terrorists by asking for their justpaste.it username, but what do I know, perhaps this was an important breakthrough in the global war on terror.
- frankchn 10mo agoIt can be an easy charge of “lying to the government on an official form” when they discover you have a user account somewhere that you didn’t disclose, even if they can’t get anything else to stick.
- nisegami 10mo agoYes, it did occur to me that there would be no way to verify it. But it felt like it was in my best interest to at least provide something.
- WalterSear 10mo agoYou would have to make sure your search footprint supported that. IE - fully private, non-publicly-visible profiles everywhere.
- rwmj 10mo agoI think the only bit that surprises me is they don't have a back door into Facebook.
- lcc 10mo agoWhy waste the backdoor on routine screening?
- mpweiher 10mo agoWho says they don't? And who says that asking for your password is to gain entry?
- trollbridge 10mo agoI would consider it extremely likely they have some kind of visibility into your data at Meta via Palantir.
- quotemstr 10mo agoWhat are the most common reasons for failing the social media check?
- immibis 10mo agoBased on news, it seems like if you like Donald Trump you may get in. If you don't like him you don't. You may also be jailed for two months for not liking Trump - that's happened a few times and that's why tourism fell off a cliff.
- andsoitis 10mo ago> You may also be jailed for two months for not liking Trump - that's happened a few times Do you have a concrete example story that illustrates this?
- bakies 10mo agoRumeysa Ozturk
- immibis 10mo agoLucas Sielaff, Jessica Brösche
- eduction 10mo agoNeither of them even allege it was due to views on Trump. Time waster. https://www.dw.com/en/german-nationals-us-immigration-detained-interrogation-ice-donald-trump/a-71987211 https://www.dw.com/en/german-nationals-us-immigration-detain...