This is the latest rollout of a change proposed in March and triggered by a Day 1 executive order signed by President Donald Trump titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats” — which sought to broadly revamp vetting standards across agencies.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would begin collecting social media data on immigration applications as a result.
The latest rule opened to public comment this month. Under it, immigrants applying for things like citizenship, refugee status, asylum, those asking for travel documents, and other immigrants, would be required to list social media handles on their USCIS applications. Public comments are open until Oct. 16.
