U.S. To Seek Social Media Details from All Visa Applicants

Re:U.S. To Seek Social Media Details from All Visa Applicants by briandear on Thursday March 29, 2018 @08:18PM (#16712497)

To get a visa for France, I had to provide my full financial details -- bank statements, information on investments, etc. I also had to provide an FBI background check. To get a visa for China, you can be denied for content of social media posts. In Thailand, you can be arrested upon arrival if you've ever written a blog post critical of the king. The UK can bar entry based on the prior speech of applicants: rapper Tyler, the Creator was banned from entry. Right wing journalists have been denied entry to the UK, even a very popular talk radio host from the US has been denied entry into the UK for nothing more than his opinions -- despite no criminal record or any other "threat." Julien Blanc, an American "dating coach" has been denied entry by Britain, Australia and Brazil because he's a YouTube star "pickup artist."

Let's not pretend the US is unique in actually screening visa applicants and choosing to decide who can enter and who can not. I'm getting tired of the self-righteous condemnation of the United States when pretty much every country in the world discriminates in visa issuance. But the immigration policies of India, Mexico, Japan, Korea or Australia are far less interesting in this click-bait media world in which we live.

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Re:U.S. To Seek Social Media Details from All Visa Applicants by thatfrenchguy on Thursday March 29, 2018 @09:14PM (#16712808)

"bank statements, information on investments, etc"

There is nothing personal in bank statements compared to social media profiles.

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Re:U.S. To Seek Social Media Details from All Visa Applicants by paganel on Friday March 30, 2018 @04:25AM (#16714604)

I think that letting a foreign entity know about your financial status is pretty "personal", at least for a guy like me it is. Back to the article on point, I remember criticizing the US's need to ask for fingertips from potential visa applicants 12 years ago, in a discussion with my former co-workers. Since then things have gotten worse and worse in terms of privacy (this being just the latest example).

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Re:U.S. To Seek Social Media Details from All Visa Applicants by jstanley on Friday March 30, 2018 @06:51AM (#16715098)

It shows who you've been paying, who's been paying you, how much, and how often.

That basically describes your entire life.

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Re:U.S. To Seek Social Media Details from All Visa Applicants by morsch on Friday March 30, 2018 @06:01AM (#16714924)

There's a difference between a blacklist of politically non-desired people and a policy applying to everyone. It's a slippery slope, but a slope nonetheless.

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