KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — The United States has introduced new visa requirements for visitors applying for F, M, and J non-immigrant visas, including mandatory disclosure of social media handles and public access to those profiles.
“Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to public to facilitate vetting,” the US Embassy said in a statement posted to its Facebook account today.
This move in Malaysia joins other similar measures undertaken by the US State Department to enhance national security and improve the visa vetting process.
Thailand, India, Japan and South Africa are among the countries where the US has announced the new visa rules this year.
F visas are issued to academic students, M visas are for vocational students, and J visas are given to those in exchange programs such as scholars, interns, and researchers.
Visa applicants must now include usernames from platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok used in the past five years.
This also includes accounts that are inactive or no longer in use.
Applicants must certify the accuracy of their social media information before submitting the DS-160 visa application form for non-immigrants.
