WASHINGTON ¨C A U.S. travel association, a top Democrat, and would-be travelers from Europe and Australia are bristling at President Donald Trump¡¯s new plan to require many foreign visitors using the visa waiver program to provide social media handles used over the past five years.
The change, announced in a U.S. government notice this week and expected to take effect on Feb. 8, would require travelers from countries in the visa waiver program to submit the social media data. Applicants for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas have been required to share that information since 2019.
The Trump administration has taken a range of steps to tighten the vetting of foreigners entering the U.S. The requirement for additional information stemmed from a Trump executive order issued on Jan. 20 calling for visitors to the U.S. to be ¡°vetted and screened to the maximum degree,¡± according to the notice published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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