Are Indian Tourists Affected By Trump’s New ‘Five Years’ Rule ?

The US government under President Donald Trump is ramping up its screening process for various types of Visas to foreign nationals. After enforcing a new set of rules with stringent measures for students and job holders with a view to curb the mass exodus of immigrants into the US, the Trump’s administration is now shifting its focus towards tourists of some selected countries. 

With enhanced scrutiny on social media activity of F1 and H1-B visa applicants coming into effect from this December 15th, the government of USA has now came up with yet another mandate which will target foreign tourists from 40 countries across the globe. 

According to latest reports, tourists from countries like Britain, Australia, France, and Japan etc. will be mandated to provide five years of their social media history as part of their applications to visit the US. A notice to this effect was posted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Wednesday.

The proposal, which has been given a 60 day-notice with requests for comments from the public, is not yet finalized and might see some revisions before turning out to be mandatory very soon. This proposal is said to be a part of the measures taken by Trump in recent months to restrict the movement of foreign travelers, after a man from Afghanistan was accused of shooting two National Guard Members near the White House. 

After the shooting incident, Trump immediately halted the migration of people from third world countries into the US. And now, he has decided to further tighten the norms by vetting social media activity of tourists from countries under US visa waiver program. Luckily, India is not a part of this program and our tourists can heave a sigh of relief.

However, Indian students and job seekers already started bearing the brunt of the new immigration rules brought by Trump in the last 11 months.