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Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

reuters.com

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Re: Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you visit so many countries?

That's nobody's business. Maybe s/he likes to travel. Especially if you're in EU where there are practically no borders west of Russia, you can visit dozens of countries without sweat.

Actually, it is the government's business to know where their citizens have been.

What the hell you think passport stamps are for.

Re: Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

#42
post #13

People won't include the social media accounts they don't want to call attention to. Net effect: Not safer as a whole, but we'll see how deep the social network surveillance actually goes and how good the pseudo-anonymous attribution algorithms really are.

  People won't include the social media accounts they don't want to call attention to.
Which is extremely risky. Depending on your profile they may find you with a simple search and having lied on your visa application or to an immigration officer will get you barred to visit the US for years.

And that's your best case scenario.

Re: Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

#43
post #35
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities > Still ridiculous. I mean, at what level does it becomes not ridiculous to have deeper vetting?

Disclaimer: I'm an Australian in the US on a work visa. I'd consider it "not ridiculous" if the vetting was limited to ensuring: - That my visa application is valid: If I'm coming to work, I'm doing it for a real job and I really do have all the necessary qualifications and my travel plans match my intent. - That I'm likely to leave the US. I think it's fine to ask whether I have ties to my home country or to the US…

The 9/11 attackers lived in the US on student visas. Some did pilot training in the US. I believe most of the recent European terrorists have been legally in those countries (and for that matter, the domestic right wing terrorists in the US, and the historical left wing terrorists in Europe)

I'm not sure how many terrorist attacks are done by fugitives. Some stuff is easier to arrange when you have legal status.

Also, cross which border illegally? The Canadian? People who need a visa to enter the US probably need one to enter Canada too.

Re: Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applied for an Indian visa a couple months ago. The page gave me 100 characters to list countries I'd visited in the previous few years. If I used 2 letter abbreviations and skipped the commas I could have just about done it. As it stands I started at NZ and moved west. Ran out of space just before listing Pakistan. Oh well.

Why do you visit so many countries?

Why do you believe this is a lot of countries to visit?

Re: Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

#46
post #13

People won't include the social media accounts they don't want to call attention to. Net effect: Not safer as a whole, but we'll see how deep the social network surveillance actually goes and how good the pseudo-anonymous attribution algorithms really are.

People won't include the social media accounts they don't want to call attention to. Which is extremely risky. Depending on your profile they may find you with a simple search and having lied on your visa application or to an immigration officer will get you barred to visit the US for years. And that's your best case scenario.

A "simple search" in the days of TOR and anonymous accounts isn't so simple.

Ergo, the second part of my comment about how well those "hidden" accounts can be uncovered.

Re: Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

#47
post #17
post #2

Submitting a complete record of 15 years of travel history would be quite challenging to many people, to say the least.

I was a Canadian Permanent Resident and now a Canadian citizen and I needed to provide the last five years travel history more than a few times. I knew this and I kept a Google Sheet with the info from the moment I landed in Canada. Turned out that was not enough: the citizenship application required the list of countries visited in the last five years even before landing in Canada. Doh! I could scrape it together, t…

I think I have done about 200-250 international trips (using like 600-800 flight segments) during the past 15 years. And I have worked with people who travel 5x more...

Re: Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

#48
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you visit so many countries?

Why do you believe this is a lot of countries to visit?

Because the number is many standard deviations above average.

Re: Trump administration approves tougher visa vetting, including social media check

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you visit so many countries?

I have hippie friends that just travel. He works remote part time as a frontend dev, she makes jewelery. The have one kid and another one on its way. They often wonder why so many people don't visit any other countries, to see how other people live, gain understanding, experience and love.

Isn't it difficult to genuinely experience another part of the world (gaining understanding, experience, etc) without either speaking the language or hiring an expensive guide?
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