US to require public social media profiles for I, TN, TD visa applicants

The United States will expand mandatory social media screening to I, TN and TD visa applicants from October 1, 2026, requiring applicants in the affected categories to make their social media profiles public or open.

The new requirement will apply to I visa applicants, including foreign journalists and other foreign media representatives, as well as TN professionals and TD dependents under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Travel Biz reported.

The US Department of State said the expanded online presence review is part of its broader visa screening and vetting process.

What they are saying

Applicants in the affected categories have been instructed to adjust the privacy settings on their social media profiles to “public” or “open.”

• The I visa is a temporary U.S. visa for foreign media representatives, including journalists, reporters and other representatives of foreign information media who are travelling to the US to engage in qualifying media activities.
• The TN visa is available to eligible Canadian and Mexican professionals whose occupations are covered under the USMCA. It allows qualifying professionals to work temporarily in the United States in their approved profession.
• The TD visa is for eligible spouses and unmarried children of TN visa holders. The TD category allows these dependents to accompany or join the TN professional in the United States.

The latest change means applicants in all three categories will be subject to the public-profile requirement from October 1, joining several other nonimmigrant visa categories already covered by the expanded social media screening policy.

Get up to speed

Nairametrics reported in August 2025 that the US required visa applicants to disclose all social media usernames or handles used during the previous five years on the DS-160 application form. The requirement applies to applicants completing the nonimmigrant visa application and forms part of the US government’s expanded digital vetting process.

In June 2025, Nairametrics also reported that the US had resumed student visa processing after temporarily suspending the scheduling of new interviews for F, M and J visa applicants. The resumption came with a requirement for applicants in those categories to make their social media accounts available for screening.

The development followed a May 2025 decision by the US to temporarily halt the scheduling of new student and exchange visitor visa interviews globally as authorities prepared to introduce stricter social media screening for F, M and J applicants.

What you should know

The October 1 expansion adds I, TN and TD applicants to a growing list of nonimmigrant visa categories subject to public social media screening.

• The categories already covered include F-1 and F-2 student visas, M-1 and M-2 vocational student visas, J-1 and J-2 exchange visitor visas, H-1B and H-4 temporary worker categories, as well as H-3, K, Q, R, S, T and U categories and certain diplomatic and official visa dependents.
• The latest requirement is different from the broader requirement introduced in 2019, when the State Department updated its visa application forms to request social media identifiers from most immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants worldwide.
• For Nigerian travellers, the development comes amid a broader tightening of US visa requirements. Nairametrics reported in 2025 that most new nonimmigrant visas issued to Nigerians were limited to single-entry visas with three-month validity, while applicants were also required to disclose social media usernames used during the previous five years.

The US Mission in Nigeria has also warned that visa overstays by Nigerian travellers could affect opportunities for other Nigerians, as US authorities continue to emphasise compliance with visa conditions.