US to Seek Intrusive Access to Visa applicants’ Internet Use
Under the new proposal, applicants would need to provide “high-value data fields”, including all social media accounts used by the applicant, a list of all email addresses the applicant used in the past 10 years, IP addresses and even the applicant's DNA.
Hyderabad: The United States department of homeland security (DHS) will seek intrusive access to personal information from individuals applying to visit the US for short trips through the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA). The US travel programme allows citizens of certain countries to enter the country without a visa for short business or tourism visits.
Under the new proposal, applicants would need to provide “high-value data fields”, including all social media accounts used by the applicant, a list of all email addresses the applicant used in the past 10 years, IP addresses and even the applicant's DNA.
DHS says the measures are meant to strengthen national security and improve the accuracy of background checks.
India is not part of the US visa waiver programme, so Indian citizens cannot apply for ESTA. However, immigration experts believe the move signals a wider shift in US security policy, which may soon affect other visa categories as well.
Analysts believe that similar information-collection requirements could be extended to B-1 (business) and B-2 (tourist) visas in the future, which is how Indians and other non-Visa Waiver Program countries have to apply to go to the United States.
“Non-immigrant visa applicants like students on F-1, M and J visa classes, skilled workers on H-1B visas and their dependents on H-4 visas already undergo detailed security screening that includes social-media history. DHS is already planning for online screening, but additional checks on emails and even DNA sampling of applicants could be brought to B-1 and B-2 visas, and could be considered a breach of an applicant’s privacy”, said Dinesh. M, a consultancy manager in Hyderabad.
DHS, in the proposal for ESTA, has stated that they would make an applicant to disclose their social media on the ESTA. “The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last five years”, the proposal read.
Additionally, DHS stated it wishes to collect “high-value data elements” from applicants. The data, which will be in addition to the data already collected in an ESTA application, will include all the applicant’s telephone numbers used in the last five years, all email addresses used in the past 10 years and IP addresses and metadata from electronically submitted pictures.
The data will also include the names of family members like parents, spouse, siblings and children, their date of birth, places of birth and residencies, telephone numbers used by the family members and biometrics of the applicant, which will include facial data, fingerprint, iris information and DNA of the applicant.
Experts say the proposed rules could not only make the visa process longer and more intrusive, but also a breach of the applicant’s privacy.
Rajeshwar Rao, a consultancy owner, said, “Collecting a decade’s worth of email accounts would require applicants to search old records. And the DNA sampling raises concerns about privacy, data storage, how the government will use the DNA data, and how long US agencies store such sensitive information.”
