US expands social media screening to more visa categories
Heads up if you're planning to work or report in the US starting October 1, 2026, you'll need to make your social media profiles public when applying for certain visas.
This expanded review covers I visas, issued to representatives of foreign media, TN visas (for professionals under the USMCA agreement), and TD visas (for their dependents).
It's all part of tightening security checks for people entering the country.
Privacy concerns over public profile requirement
Social media screening isn't totally new: the US has been requesting social media identifiers from most immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants since 2019.
Now, with these extra categories included, privacy advocates are raising concerns about how much personal info travelers will have to share.
The added categories are I, TN, and TD, and applicants are told to set social media profiles to "public" or "open."
Many are wondering what this means for future trips and digital privacy.