The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released a new proposal in the Federal Register on Wednesday, requiring tourists from over 40 countries including the UK, France, Australia, and Japan to provide their social media history records for the past five years when applying to enter the United States.
This proposal has entered a 60-day public comment period and is subject to potential modifications before finalization.
Currently, travelers from countries and regions under the Visa Waiver Program can apply to travel to the U.S. through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for stays of up to 90 days at a cost of $40.
As per the new CBP proposal, travelers from these visa-waiver countries will need to provide additional information when filling out the ESTA form, with a significant focus on social media scrutiny becoming a mandatory step in the ESTA application process. Applicants will be required to provide their social media records from the past five years.
The issue of providing social media information was initially added to the ESTA application form in 2016 but was marked as “optional.” According to information on the CBP website, applicants can still submit an ESTA application even if they choose not to answer that question or if they don’t have any social media accounts, and it will not lead to negative interpretations or inferences. The new CBP proposal will make social media review a required option.
Additionally, the new proposal indicates that CBP plans to include several “high-value data points” in the ESTA application where feasible, as supplementary information to the existing required fields.
These high-value data points include:
a. Phone numbers used in the past five years;
b. Email addresses used in the past ten years;
c. IP address and metadata of electronically submitted photos;
d. Names of family members (parents, spouse, siblings, children);
e. Phone numbers used by family members in the past five years;
f. Birthdates of family members;
g. Birthplaces of family members;
h. Residences of family members;
i. Biometric information – facial features, fingerprints, DNA, and irises;
j. Business phone numbers used in the past five years;
k. Business email addresses used in the past ten years.
Apart from the social media review, CBP also intends to update the ESTA application website, requiring applicants to provide a facial photo or selfie to enhance the screening process and enable CBP to better confirm that the applicant is the legitimate document holder applying for ESTA.
CBP stated that while the current option for third-party applications for ESTA will remain available, this update will require third parties (such as travel agencies or family members) to provide a photo of the ESTA applicant.