{"id":185196,"date":"2025-12-10T17:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T17:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/185196\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T17:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T17:35:07","slug":"us-plans-to-start-checking-tourists-social-media-over-last-five-years-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/185196\/","title":{"rendered":"US plans to start checking tourists\u2019 social media over last five years \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US<\/a> is proposing that foreign visitors provide their social media history over the last five years to enter the country.<\/p>\n

US Customs and Border Protection \u201cis adding social media as a mandatory data element\u201d as part of the screening process for travellers entering the US under the Visa Waiver Program, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice posted on Wednesday. The proposal, which includes those from Ireland, the UK, Australia, Germany, Japan and the UK who can now enter without a visa, was given a 60-day notice with requests for comments.<\/p>\n

It would apply to travellers from about 40 countries who can stay in the US for up to 90 days without a visa and are screened before travel under an electronic system known as ESTA.<\/p>\n

The plan is the latest in a series of measures from the Trump administration aimed at restricting entry. This has included a planned travel ban for around 30 countries announced this month following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington.<\/p>\n

Federal authorities have identified the suspect as an Afghan national who worked with US forces and the CIA in Afghanistan before arriving in the US in 2021. President Donald Trump and his allies have seized on the case, blaming the Biden administration for allowing him into the country and pushing for tighter limits on migrants.<\/p>\n

Trump in a post on social media following the shooting, said that he would move to \u201cpermanently\u201d pause migration from \u201call Third World Countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One on December 9, 2025, en route to deliver remarks in Pennsylvania. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds\/ AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Irish Times view on US foreign policy: Trump\u2019s gunboat diplomacyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The US will also launch a \u201ccomprehensive re-review\u201d of approvals granted to people from those nations who entered on or after the start of President Joe Biden\u2019s term in 2021, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a policy memo.<\/p>\n

The State Department said in December it would expand social media review requirements for H-1B visas for high-skilled workers, urging applicants and dependents \u201cto adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to \u2018public.\u2019\u201d In June, it ordered a review of student visa applicants\u2019 social media presence.<\/p>\n

The US has been on track for a sharp decline in foreign visitors and spending by tourists this year. Data from May indicated the country is set to lose $12.5 billion in travel revenue in 2025, with visitor spending estimated to fall under $169 billion by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

The country is also set for its first drop in foreign tourists in about five years, with some 67.9 million visits forecast for this year, down from 72.4 million in 2024, the US Travel Association said.<\/p>\n

The US was the only one of 184 global economies analysed by the World Travel & Tourism Council and Oxford Economics in the study from May projected to lose tourism dollars this year.<\/p>\n

The decline was attributed to lingering Covid-era travel requirements, a strong dollar, and a shift in people\u2019s views of the US due to the Trump administration\u2019s \u2018America First\u2019 rhetoric and policy, it said. \u2013 Bloomberg<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Trump increases pressure on Ukraine to accept US peace plan and calls for electionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US is proposing that foreign visitors provide their social media history over the last five years to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":["post-185196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}