Amongst the stringent regulations, applicants for F, M and J non-immigrant US visas will be required to ensure their social media accounts are set to public.
Their social media handles will be required when filling out the DS-160 visa application form.
An Garda Síochána in Kilkenny said it was ‘a bit of a quandary’ as they stressed that "privacy is number 1."
Taking to Facebook, the official account for the force in The Marble City said the daughter of a friend of the force has been refused a US student visa due to her social media accounts being set to private.
Gardaí said: "This makes sense as people, especially young females may be 'creeped' on by unpleasant online individuals.
"We always recommend keeping accounts private but if you are required to make these accounts public before travelling to a jurisdiction that demands it, please ensure that you do housekeeping after and remove unwanted followers and return to private.
Read more
"It is understood that most countries that people travel to leave social media settings to user discretion. Just a heads up."
Facebook users flocked to the comments having their say on the new regulations, with one person sharing: "I got mine in 2023 and the process was already privacy invasive enough then, this new change makes it even worse."
Another wrote: "Em no thanks, there are plenty of other countries to work in for the summer."
A third echoed: "That country is becoming a place you really don’t want to go to."
Last week, the US Embassy in Dublin released a statement confirming that failure to provide social media information could result in visa denial as well as "ineligibility for future visas."
The US Embassy said that obtaining a visa for the States was a "privilege, not a right" as they highlighted every decision was one "made by national security."
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
Comments