Bengaluru: Students who wish to study in the United States under the F, M, or J non-immigrant visa categories will now be required to set their social media accounts to ‘public’ as part of the visa application process.

U.S. Embassy mandates social media to be public for F, M, and J visa applicants to ensure identity verification.

Ireland's Taoiseach Mícheál Martin has criticized the new social media vetting procedures for Irish students applying for US visas as "excessive." Irish students applying for US visas will be instructed to list all social media usernames or handles of every platform they have used from the last five years.