“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 United States Mission in Nigeria has directed all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas to make their personal social media accounts public to enable enhanced background checks.
In a post shared Monday on the Mission’s official X page, the embassy stated, “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 embassy explained that the new rule, which affects students and exchange visitors, aims to ensure proper identity verification and national security screening.
“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,” it said.
The U.S. State Department had earlier, on June 18, announced it would begin “comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence” of visa applicants.
“Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” it noted.