The Department of State (“DOS”) announced it will expand screening and vetting for all H-1B applicants and their H-4 dependents beginning December 15, 2025. Consular officers will review the online presence of all visa applicants, including any social media, to determine whether any visa applicants are inadmissible to the United States, including those who they deem pose a threat to U.S. national security or public safety. The requirement for enhanced vetting is already in place for student (F, M, J) visas, and all visa applicants are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on their social media accounts to “public” to facilitate review.
According a Reuters report, consular officers were instructed, in a cable sent to all U.S. missions, to screen the resumes and LinkedIn profiles of H-1B and dependent H-4 visa applicants to identify whether they have “worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others.” If an applicant is determined to have been “responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States,” consular officers are then ordered to find that the applicant is ineligible for visa issuance.
DOS’s announcement states that every visa adjudication is a national security decision and notes that the expanded screening and vetting is designed to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or the national interest, and that all applicants credibly establish they intend to engage in activities consistent with the terms for their visa admission. This expanded vetting may cause delays in processing times for visa applicants, and heightens the necessity of ensuring consistency across applications and social media.
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