The government is now checking visitors’ ideology at the door.
The United States is increasingly checking what visa applicants think before deciding whether to let them into the country.
For years, most visa applicants have had to give the State Department their social-media handles.
Now the government is going further.
Students. Exchange visitors. Skilled workers. Religious workers. And, as of this week (10/1/26) foreign journalists and certain Canadian and Mexican professionals.
They are being instructed to make their social-media profiles public for government inspection.
And officials are looking for more than terrorism or crime.
State Department instructions obtained by Reuters tell officers reviewing student visas to look for “hostile attitudes” toward American citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles. Officers are also told to examine certain histories of political activism.
For skilled workers, officers are instructed to look for work involving fact-checking and moderation, misinformation or disinformation, and whether that work amounted to what the administration considers censorship of Americans.
Keeping an account private can also raise questions. Guidance says limited access may be treated as an effort to hide online activity.
The government is now checking visitors’ ideology at the door.
