“Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their personal social media accounts to ‘public.’”, the US Mission announced.
The United States Mission in Nigeria has mandated that all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas must set their personal social media accounts to “public.”
These visa categories are granted to individuals pursuing educational and exchange programs in the US.
In a post on Monday via its official X page, the mission announced, “Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their personal social media accounts to ‘public.’”
According to the embassy, the policy aims to strengthen vetting processes to verify applicants’ identities and assess admissibility.
“We use all available information in our visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to US national security,” the statement read.
The US Department of State emphasized, “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” noting that a visa “is a privilege, not a right.”