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05th May 2017

Want a US visa? You might have to hand over your social media handles

Anna O'Rourke

Nobody panic.

If you get a notification saying someone’s liked your Instagram post from 2014, don’t be alarmed – it’s probably just the US State Department.

Anyone trying to get a visa to work in the US could be asked to hand over their social media handle.

The State Department is proposing tougher questioning of people seeking to come to the US, reports Reuters.

It wants to ask visa applicants for prior passport numbers, five years’ worth of social media handles and email addresses, phone numbers and 15 years of biographical information.

It said that it would not be requesting passwords for the social media accounts.

For now, these measures will only apply to people that State Department believe warrant “additional scrutiny”.

This comes as US President Trump attempts to tighten border security in the US.

Topics:

Travel,us,Visa