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Trump Administration Approves Tougher Visa Vetting

by Reuters

   WASHINGTON --

   The Trump administration has rolled out a new questionnaire for U.S.
   visa applicants worldwide that asks for social media handles for the
   last five years and biographical information going back 15 years.

   The new questions, part of an effort to tighten vetting of would-be
   visitors to the United States, was approved on May 23 by the Office of
   Management and Budget despite criticism from a range of education
   officials and academic groups during a public comment period.

   Critics argued that the new questions would be overly burdensome, lead
   to long delays in processing and discourage international students and
   scientists from coming to the United States.

   Under the new procedures, consular officials can request all prior
   passport numbers, five years' worth of social media handles, email
   addresses and phone numbers and 15 years of biographical information
   including addresses, employment and travel history.
   ([1]http://bit.ly/2qBSrpv)

   Officials will request the additional information when they determine
   "that such information is required to confirm identity or conduct more
   rigorous national security vetting," a State Department official said
   on Wednesday.

   The State Department said earlier the tighter vetting would apply to
   visa applicants "who have been determined to warrant additional
   scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national
   security-related visa ineligibilities."

   President Donald Trump has vowed to increase national security and
   border protections, proposing to give more money to the military and
   make Mexico pay to build a wall along the southern U.S. border.

   He has tried to implement a temporary travel ban on people from six
   Muslim-majority nations that a U.S. appeals court refused to reinstate,
   calling it discriminatory and setting the stage for a showdown in the
   Supreme Court.

   The Office of Management and Budget granted emergency approval for the
   new questions for six months, rather than the usual three years.

   While the new questions are voluntary, the form says failure to provide
   the information may delay or prevent the processing of an individual
   visa application.

   Immigration lawyers and advocates say the request for 15 years of
   detailed biographical information, as well as the expectation that
   applicants remember all their social media handles, is likely to catch
   applicants who make innocent mistakes or do not remember all the
   information requested.

   The new questions grant "arbitrary power" to consular officials to
   determine who gets a visa with no effective check on their decisions,
   said Babak Yousefzadeh, a San Francisco-based attorney and president of
   the Iranian American Bar Association.

   "The United States has one of the most stringent visa application
   processes in the world," Yousefzadeh said. "The need for tightening the
   application process further is really unknown and unclear."

References

   1. http://bit.ly/2qBSrpv