THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS) HAS PUT FORWARD A PROPOSAL TO COLLECT ALL SOCIAL MEDIA INFORMATION FROM ADJUSTMENT APPLICANTS AS WELL AS OTHER IMMIGRATION BENEFITS APPLICANTS

According to a Federal Register Notice published on September 4, 2019, DHS plans to collect all social media information from the past five years of all applicants applying for certain immigration benefits and foreign travel forms. You will need to fulfill this requirement if you are applying for naturalization, adjusting your status, if you are a Visa Waiver Program traveler, and many more.

This proposal was established in order to comply with the Executive Order (E.O.) 13780, which stresses the priority of proper information collection and adds to the standardized methods of vetting by increasing uniformity, and specifically, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”.  

This new proposal will also be used as a standard to determine your eligibility to travel and to verify that you do not/will not pose any threats to the United States. 

Important Notes

  • DHS will present an initial and comprehensive list of social media platforms for which applicants will be asked to list their social media identifiers (usernames, handles, etc).
  •  You will not be asked to provide any passwords to any of your social media platforms.
  • Although you will be required to answer required questions for social media on applicable forms, you may answer “None” and proceed if there are indeed no social media you have used in the past five years. 

The list of known forms and systems DHS plans to add social media questions to include:

  • Form N-400, Application for Naturalization
    • I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status
  • I-131, Application for Travel Document
  • I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant
    • I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
  • I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal
  • Form I–590, Registration for Classification as Refugee
  • Form I–730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition
  • Form I–751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence
  • Form I–829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status

Form I-129 and Form I-140 are excluded from the DHS proposal. 

This new proposal will not be put into action effective immediately, nor will it affect current immigration benefits applications until it received federal approval. 

Posted in: Immigration

posted on: October 15, 2019

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