The Department of Homeland Security has proposed rules that would require visitors from the 42 countries in the visa waiver program to provide social media history and other personal data when seeking to enter the United States. The proposal, published in a Federal Register notice and open for 60 days of public comment, would apply to travelers who currently can visit for tourism or business without a visa.
Under the measure, eligible travelers would need to submit five years of social media activity. They would also be required to provide email addresses they have used over the past 10 years, phone numbers and home addresses of immediate family members, and could face scrutiny of IP addresses and metadata from electronically submitted photos.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the social media requirement is intended to implement President Trump’s January executive order aimed at protecting citizens from foreign actors who intend to commit terrorism, threaten national security, espouse hateful ideology, or exploit immigration laws for malevolent purposes. DHS has not defined what kinds of online activity would qualify as a threat.
The proposal could also change how travelers apply under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). Currently, visa‑waiver travelers pay $40 and submit an online ESTA form; the notice proposes eliminating the online application in favor of a mobile-only platform.
Advocates and legal experts say the measures expand existing practices used for visa applicants. Marissa Montes, a professor at Loyola Law School and director of its Immigrant Justice Clinic, noted the government has historically sought such information, but key questions remain about implementation: whether social media will be submitted in advance or requested by officers at ports of entry, and how officers will screen applicants. She said screenings have often been discretionary at the point of entry.
Montes and others worry about the absence of explicit guidelines defining what content is harmful. That vagueness, she said, gives officers broad discretion to interpret online activity, potentially allowing political views or criticism of the administration to be treated as disqualifying. She advises travelers to be mindful not only of their own posts but also of content they have liked, commented on, or reposted, which could be grounds for denial or even a permanent ban. Posts showing casual drug use, firearms, or content that could be construed as pro-socialist or communist, she said, might draw scrutiny.
She cautioned against deleting social media accounts entirely, because doing so has become a red flag for officials. “Our immigration laws bar certain types of conduct because of immigration bias … so you really have to be careful about what you put out there,” Montes said. “If I can find the information, the government certainly can.”