Author: Christine Chung
Publication: The New York Times
Date: December 9, 2025
Summary:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection filed a proposal Tuesday requiring visitors from 42 visa waiver countries—including Britain, France, Germany and South Korea—to provide up to five years of social media history for electronic travel authorization.
The change would also require applicants to provide email addresses from the last decade and names, birth dates, places of residence and birthplaces of parents, spouses, siblings and children.Currently, applicants pay $40 and submit email address, home address, phone number and emergency contact information, with social media listing optional since 2016. I
mmigration law firm Fragomen called the approach a "paradigm shift" from verifying specific facts to "looking at online speech, and then denying travel based on discretion and policy about the kinds of things that get said."
The proposal follows similar social media reviews for H-1B visa seekers and student visa applicants, as well as pending plans for a new $250 visa integrity fee (from which visa waiver countries are exempt). CBP will accept 60 days of public comments, with potential for gradual implementation over following weeks and months if approved.
Quotes:
"A sign that the applicant is hiding something" — Xiao Wang, CEO of Boundless, describing expected government view of absent social media records
"The new method involves looking at online speech, and then denying travel based on discretion and policy about the kinds of things that get said. It'll be interesting to watch the tourism numbers." — Bo Cooper, partner at Fragomen immigration law firm
"It has not proven effective at finding terrorists and other bad guys. But it has chilled the free speech and invaded the privacy of innocent travelers, along with that of their American family, friends and colleagues." — Sophia Cope, Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney
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