For new students who need to take the visa interview, submitting a DS-160 online application is the first step to take. To complete the form, you would need the information- like the school code and your SEVIS number –which can be found in Form I-20.
Submitting the form itself is not complicated at all but I get lots of questions about one of the sections in DS-160, “Do you have a social media presence?” Some students ask why they are asking for private information and if not providing any social media information would lead to visa denial.
What is more, some international students and scholars may be subject to electronic device searches at the border by CBP (3) officials. Did you know that searches of international visitors’ electronic devices increased by 35% from Fiscal Year 2017 to the Fiscal Year 2019? If international travelers are not aware of the searches of devices and social media accounts, foreign students and scholars might be easily freaked out.
Therefore, this blog post will share all about the searches of devices and social media accounts based on the official documents from the U.S. government and quotes from CBP officers and former Consular Officials. New students who are planning to study in the U.S. will have a better idea of how to answer the DS-160 “Do you have a social media presence?” section and what to expect at the airport (border).
Disclosures: We sometimes use affiliate links in our content, meaning we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This won’t cost you anything but it helps us to offset the costs to maintain this website. Thank you for your support to help us to create more helpful content like this.
Contents
- What is “social media identifier”
- How to answer DS-160 “Do you have a social media presence?”
- CBP’s Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative
- Searches of electronic devices
What is “social media identifier”
If you are aware of the 9/11 incident, it’s not difficult to understand the rationale behind the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s initiatives to collect social media accounts and search the electronic devices. To put it simply, the U.S. is looking at the international students’ social media and electronic devices to make sure that they will not be a threat to the U.S.
FAQs on Social Media Collection, issued by one of the U.S. government agents, Travel.state.gov noted the following:
National security is our top priority when adjudicating visa applications, and every prospective traveler and immigrant to the United States undergoes extensive security screening. We are constantly working to find mechanisms to improve our screening processes to protect U.S. citizens while supporting legitimate travel to the United States.
FAQs on Social Media Collection
As the form is only asking the social media identifier/handle/ID not password, they can only see publicly available posts. The same FAQ document states that “The information will be used, as all information provided during a visa interview and on the visa application, to determine if the applicant is eligible for a visa under existing U.S. law.“
Some students feel uncomfortable sharing social media accounts under the “Do you have a social media presence” section because they think it is their privacy. It is understandable for students to feel that way as that’s where students share their personal stories. However, visa applicants are asked to provide other private information as well such as “limited contact information, travel history, family member information, and previous addresses.”
This is why asking for social media identifiers is not considered as invading the privacy of students- it is one of the necessary pieces of information for consular officials to determine visa eligibility like any other private information.
Last but not least, it is important to note that Consular Officials cannot “deny visas based on applicants’ race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, political views, gender, or sexual orientation.” To reiterate, social media information “will be used for identity resolution and to determine whether the applicant is eligible for a U.S. visa under U.S. law.”
How to answer DS-160 “Do you have a social media presence?”
In the previous paragraph, we learned that Form DS-160 is asking “Do you have a social media presence?” for the U.S. national security and that they would only look at publicly available posts on social media. We also read that consular officials will use social media to discern the visa validity not to deny any visa applicants based on applicants’ race, religion, political views, or sexual orientation just to name a few.
Now, how should you answer DS-160 “Do you have a social media presence?”
First, if you don’t have any social media accounts, you can answer “None.” If you have any social media, it is encouraged to provide all the social media handles as false claims might delay the visa processing.
A former Visa officer, Mandy Feuerbacher from Argo Visa shared her experience via email with SEVIS SAVVY and said “Visa Officers will generally not check social media accounts. They are so busy that they simply don’t have the time to do that for every visa applicant.”
Visa Officers will generally not check social media accounts. They are so busy that they simply don’t have the time to do that for every visa applicant.
Mandy Feuerbacher from Argo Visa
According to Mandy, consular officers might consider monitoring social media accounts “if there are suspicions raised about a visa applicant’s motives in the United States. Then, the Visa Officer may review the applicant’s social media accounts, or even more seriously, refer the case to the Fraud Prevention Unit where a specialist will take more time to review all of the applicant’s social media accounts.”
If you don’t feel comfortable having others look at your social media account, the best practice might be turning your account and posts into private. By doing so, you are providing accurate information in Form DS-160 Visa Application, and the public will not be able to watch anything.
Visa applicants should keep in mind that “students always be truthful about their social media identifiers if they have them. In fact, they should always be truthful in all of the responses they input into the DS-160 or DS-260 (for immigrant visas/ green cards) forms,” said Mandy.
If you have further questions regarding your social media presence or F-1 visa, book an appointment with Mandy and her colleagues today by going to the Argo Visa website. Navigating through the F-1 visa interview can make you nervous and that’s why former visa officials got together at Argo Visa to provide reliable and truthful consultation for international students.
Thanks to the official partnership between Argo Visa and SEVIS SAVVY, students can get $25 off until the end of August 2021 by clicking any of the Argo Visa links in this article or by letting them know that you were referred by SEVIS SAVVY.
To read Mandy’s advice on F-1 visa, click the following related blog post.
Related blog post: Why 30~60% of student visa applicants get refused
CBP’s Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative
If your visa request is approved and granted, now it is time for you to enter the border and go through immigration. To learn more about the list of documents that you need to bring, click the related blog post below.
Related blog post: The cheapest air flight & Fall 2021 immigration documents
Similar to consular officials at the embassy, CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) officers at the border might monitor your social media accounts and electronic devices as a part of the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) to ensure safety.
Just like visa officials, CBP officers can only access publicly available social media postings. Also, it seems that CBP officers would not reject one’s entry solely based on social media postings unless the posting is “deemed threatening” and it requires reasonable actions. Rather it is “to draft reports designed to shape the agency’s situational awareness.”
Searches of electronic devices
According to the CBP Directive 3340-0049A: Border Search of Electronic Devices, CBP’s search authority applies to all merchandise and persons crossing the border. The directive provides “guidance and standard operating procedures for searching, reviewing, retaining and sharing information contained in computers, tablets, removable media, disks, drives, tapes, mobile phones, cameras, music and other media players and any other communication, electronic, or digital devices subject to inbound and outbound border searches by U.S. CBP,” according to the NAFSA* 2021 F-1 Hot Topics session.
(*NAFSA: Association of International Educators is one of the biggest International Education associations in the United States).
At the NAFSA 2021 session, the CBP officer mentioned, though, that…
- the search rate dropped significantly due to the pandemic in 2019 as only 0.01% of arriving international travelers had electronic device searches.
- the CBP officer should go through at least three layers of approval to get permission to do the social media/ electronic device search.
- it is very rare to conduct a social media/electronic device search.
- it’s never a random search.
- it tends to happen when there is a national security concern.
The bottom line appears that international students who are coming to the U.S. to attend colleges and universities should not be particularly concerned about CBP’s searches of devices and social media accounts. However, for your peace of mind, it is recommended to make your social media account private and do not have something that seems a national threat to your electronic devices.
Hope this help new international students to have a better understanding of how to complete DS-160 and answer “Do you have a social media presence” question. Also, the awareness of the searches of devices and social media accounts at the border (immigration) will help students to be well ready and be confident.
Like this, it can’t be emphasized enough for international students to know about their responsibilities and benefits as F-1 visa holders. To learn more about the F-1 visa, click the F-1 visa webpage. To learn more about the work benefits, click the OPT and STEM OPT pages.
