US Embassy in India issues strict new rule for DS-160 application form. Miss it and risk rejection

In a move to tighten security screening, U.S. visa applicants are now required to disclose all social media usernames they've used over the past five years on the DS-160 application form — and failing to do so could result in immediate denial and possible ineligibility for future visas.

"Omitting social media information could lead to visa denial and ineligibility for future visas," said US embassy in India, in a post on X.

This moves comes after the US Embassy in India announced new visa screening measures for applicants under the F, M, and J non immigrant visa categories. The embassy directed all student and exchange visitor applicants to set their social media profiles to “public” to support identity verification and admissibility checks.


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Most Indian students applying for US colleges are willing to make their social media accounts public to fulfil their dreams to study in the US, experts say.

The new measures will impact them as most are on at least one of the social media platforms like X, Instagram, TikTok, or Linkedin.

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Latest rules for DS-160 application form are some of the measures among many, either introduced or reinforced, in the last few months impacting Indian students either studying or considering studying in the US.

These restrictions include further tightening of student visa rules; heightened scrutiny of students’ records, including social media posts; student and exchange visitor information system (SEVIS) record glitches; and increased scrutiny at ports of entry.

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Over 95% of students enrolled with IDP (a study abroad platform) are fine making their social media profiles public. “Rest 4-5% are considering going to other countries like the UK, Canada and Australia,” said Piyush Kumar, regional director, South Asia, Canada and Latin America, IDP.

F-1 is a student visa to study in an accredited US college, J-1 is an exchange visa for participation in an exchange programme, while M-1 is student visa for non-academic or vocational study or training in the United States.

Students with strong intent to study in the US are not changing their plans due to social media vetting, experts said.