The United States has proposed new rules that would require visa-free travellers to submit their social media history covering the last five years as part of a broader effort to strengthen national security screening.
The proposal was announced on Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and published in a public notice ahead of its formal listing in the Federal Register. The new requirements would apply to travellers entering the US through the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) under the Visa Waiver Programme.
According to the DHS, the proposed changes are in response to Executive Order 14161, signed in January 2025, which mandates enhanced screening measures to better identify potential foreign security threats.
Currently, ESTA applicants are only encouraged to voluntarily disclose their social media accounts. However, the revised guidelines would make the disclosure compulsory.
“The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last five years,” the DHS said in the notice.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) explained that the move would help authorities more accurately verify applicants’ identities, detect fraudulent submissions and flag possible security risks before travellers arrive in the country.
Beyond social media history, the proposal also expands the scope of personal information required from applicants. CBP said it plans to introduce several new “high-value data fields,” including email addresses used over the past 10 years, phone numbers from the last five years, IP addresses and metadata from photographs submitted during the application process.
The new rules would also require more detailed family background information and broader biometric data collection, including facial recognition, fingerprints, iris scans and, in some cases, DNA samples.
According to the DHS, the expanded data collection aligns with updated federal biographic data requirements introduced earlier in the year and is intended to strengthen identity verification across US borders.
Another major aspect of the proposal is a planned transition from the current ESTA web portal to a mobile-only application system.
If approved, the changes would affect travellers from the 40 countries currently participating in the US Visa Waiver Programme. With more than 14 million ESTA applications processed each year, the proposed rules could have far-reaching implications for international travel.
The DHS has invited public comments on the proposal, which will remain open for 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.
If implemented, the policy would represent one of the most extensive expansions of digital identity and social media vetting in the history of US immigration screening.
