{"id":337903,"date":"2025-12-11T00:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T00:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/337903\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T00:30:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T00:30:17","slug":"visiting-u-s-heres-who-may-need-to-share-social-media-family-details-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/337903\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting U.S.? Here\u2019s who may need to share social media, family details – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foreign tourists entering the United States may soon be required to provide their social media histories from the past five years, as well as their family members\u2019 names and addresses, in order to obtain a travel<\/a> authorization.<\/p>\n

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However, Canadian citizens would not be affected by the proposed changes to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) program.<\/p>\n

Visitors to the U.S. from nearly four dozen visa-exempt nations \u2014 including the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Israel \u2014 need to apply for an ESTA<\/a> before entering the country.<\/p>\n

The new rules, if approved, would add social media disclosure as \u201ca mandatory data element for an ESTA application,\u201d according to the notice published Wednesday<\/a> by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last five years,\u201d the notice in the U.S. Federal Register says.<\/p>\n

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The proposal also seeks to add a list of \u201chigh value data fields\u201d to the ESTA application, including:<\/p>\n

Telephone numbers used in the last five years;Email addresses used in the last 10 years;Family member names (parents, spouse, siblings, children) and their dates and places of birth, as well as their residencies;Family number telephone numbers used in the last five years;Biometrics such as facial photos, fingerprints, DNA, and iris scans;Business telephone numbers used in the last five years; andBusiness email addresses used in the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

CBP estimates travellers filling out an ESTA application will need an extra 22 minutes to provide the additional information.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t0:41
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tU.S. to require all non-citizens, including Canadians, to have photo taken upon entry and exit\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The notice says the proposed changes align with U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order, signed on the first day of his second term in January 2025, that asked agencies to ensure any foreigner entering the U.S. \u201care vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. citizens will have 60 days to comment on the proposal, the notice says.<\/p>\n

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For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

The new rules are being proposed as the U.S. prepares to host the FIFA World Cup next year alongside Canada and Mexico, which will bring travellers from around the world to witness the global soccer tournament.<\/p>\n

Fans coming to attend the World Cup matches will be fast-tracked for visa applications, the U.S. State Department has announced.<\/p>\n

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The Trump administration has otherwise sought to clamp down on foreign travel and immigration to the U.S. through a series of additional regulations and requirements.<\/p>\n

CBP and DHS said in late October<\/a> it intends to start rolling out enhanced biometric screening in the final week of this year, which will require all travellers entering and exiting the U.S. \u2014 including Canadians \u2014 to have their photo taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what (the Trump administration has) been trying to do all along \u2014 and this is just one piece of it \u2014 is say, \u2018Listen, America\u2019s closed, we\u2019re not screwing around anymore,’\u201d Rosanna Berardi, an immigration lawyer based in Buffalo, N.Y., told Global News.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018If you want to come, you\u2019re gonna be vetted heavily. If you\u2019re not comfortable with that, then stay home.\u2019 And that\u2019s been the message, unfortunately, since January.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Berardi noted that Canadian citizens will not be affected by the proposed ESTA changes, as Canadians are exempt from the program and only need to show their Canadian passport at the U.S. border.<\/p>\n

CBP guidance says<\/a> Canadian citizens who are travelling with a Canadian passport do not need an ESTA to enter the U.S.<\/p>\n

That means Canadians will not be subject to the proposed rule changes, Berardi noted.<\/p>\n

However, she said the increased data disclosure rules could apply to Canadian permanent residents who hold passports from some visa-exempt countries.<\/p>\n

Permanent residents who are citizens of countries where a visa is still required, such as India or China, would still need to apply for a visa and be subject to enhanced vetting through that separate entry stream.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s very country-specific,\u201d Berardi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime the government does something like this, it\u2019s always as clear as mud, as you can tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed rule changes also seek to shut down the ESTA application website and move the entire process to mobile devices, which DHS says will \u201cboth enhance security and improve efficiency\u201d due to better image quality from mobile cameras.<\/p>\n

The notice says \u201cpoor quality image uploads to the ESTA website have resulted in applicants bypassing the facial comparison screening,\u201d a \u201cvulnerability that CBP believes travellers are aware of and \u201chave begun to exploit it by purposely uploading poor quality images to avoid detection.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agencies add moving the application process from the website will also reduce fraud from third-party websites that issue false travel authorizations to unsuspecting travellers who end up paying higher fees.<\/p>\n

However, Berardi said prioritizing mobile devices will come with its own challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad is 86 and very tech savvy, but if I told him you have to download this app and upload a picture, I would have to help him with that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Asking seniors \u201cwanting to visit Disney World\u201d or take a similar U.S. vacation to list their past email addresses and family members\u2019 information will also be \u201ca very big ask,\u201d Berardi added.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Foreign tourists entering the United States may soon be required to provide their social media histories from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[148213,43,6680,44,41,39,42,40,900,2845,3275],"class_list":{"0":"post-337903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-esta","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-travel","17":"tag-u-s-news","18":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}