Expanded Screening and Vetting Procedures for Additional Visa Categories
Categories: Department of State , Immigration Law , Non-Immigrant Visas , Social Media Vetting , U.S. Visa Screening
On March 25, 2026, the Department of State (DOS) announced that it will expand its online presence review. This is set to take effect on March 30, 2026. The expanded screening and vetting procedures now include applicants in the following additional non immigrant visa classifications:
- All A-3 visa applicants
- C-3 (if a domestic worker) visa applicants
- G-5 visa applicants
- H-3 visa applicants and their H-4 dependents
- K-1, K-2, and K-3 visa applicants
- Q visa applicants
- R-1 and R-2 visa applicants
- S visa applicants
- T visa applicants
- U visa applicants
These visa classifications are in addition to the H-1B applicants and their dependents, and F, M, and J student and exchange visitor visa applicants that were already subjected to this review. To facilitate these additional measures, the DOS has instructed all applicants of these newly added visa classifications to adjust their privacy settings on all of their social media platforms to “public.” According to the DOS, this expansion aims to utilize all available public information to ensure applicants are admissible to the United States and do not pose a threat to national security or public safety.
Implications For Our Clients
This policy update introduces new complexities that all applicants in the newly added visa classifications must be prepared for. We strongly advise our clients to take the following preventative measures:
- Audit Your Online Presence: Clients should make sure to adjust their privacy settings to comply with procedures set by the DOS.
- Ensure Consistency: Thoroughly review all professional profiles to ensure that job titles, employment dates, roles, and responsibilities are aligned with the information in the visa application and the underlying H-1B petition, for example.
- Potential Delays: The inclusion of this vetting process is expected to increase the workload for consular posts worldwide. Clients should be aware that they may experience longer wait times for final visa issuance. This is important to note for travel and personal planning purposes.
We will continue to monitor any updates to this new guidance and update our website regularly on further details provided by the Department of State. We recommend that readers check our site regularly to stay up to date on this and all matters related to immigration law. Should you have questions or concerns, please contact the immigration department at Pasricha & Patel, LLC to schedule a consultation.