As most of you know, since the Trump Administration took office for the second time, there has been an increased number of immigration policies that are aimed at US national security and border control. Since the shooting at Washington D.C. by an Afghan national, more policies are pushed towards tighter border control and more vetting.
On December 3rd, 2025, the US Department of State released a press note indicating the expansion of screening and vetting for H1B and H4 Visa applicants who go for stamping. In this article, we will review the summary, what to expect, and how you should be prepared for the same.
Update: US Consulates/ Embassy have started to cancel and automatically reschedule H1B, H4 Visa appointments between December 15 and Dec 26th, 2025. You can read more details at H1B Visa Appointments Rescheduled, Emails Sent
Background: Expanded Vetting for F, M and J Visa Applicants
Below is the brief background of how it all started:
- In June 2025, the US Department of State resumed processing of F, M, and J Visa applicants and introduced additional vetting requirements for those visa applicants.
- As you all know, all the US Visa applicants must fill out the Social Media Profile info on DS-160 application. As part of these additional vetting requirements, all the F, M, and J Visa applicants were instructed to change their privacy settings of all of their social media profiles to be “public”.
- The US Department of State stated that every visa decision is a US national security decision, and all visa applicants must establish that they are eligible for a visa and engage in activities that are in line with their terms of admission to the US for studying.
Now, similar to the F, M, and J visa applicants, the US Department of State is expanding additional vetting requirements to include H1B Visa and their H4 Visa dependents, when they apply for visa stamping.
Additional Vetting and Screening of H1B Visa, H4 Visa Applicants
Below is the summary of the US Department of State’s press release on additional vetting for H1B, H4 visa applicants:
- Starting from December 15th, 2025, the US Department of State will do an additional review of the online presence of all H1B Visa applicants and their dependents applying for an H4 Visa.
- To facilitate the additional review, the US Department of State is instructing all the H1B, and H4 Visa applicants to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public”. Essentially, they want all H1B and H4 visa applicants to ensure that all social media posts across their social media profiles are visible to everyone.
- They say that the US State Department will use all the information that is available to them to do additional visa screening and vetting to decide who will be eligible to enter the US and who will be considered a US National security or public threat. This is similar to the vetting they currently do for F, M and J Visa applicants.
- They say that every Visa decision is a national security decision, and they want to ensure that anyone applying for a U.S. visa does not intend to harm Americans and their national interests.
- Below is the screenshot of the actual press release by the US Department of State.
What should H1B, H4 Visa Applicants do for Visa Stamping?
If you plan to apply for an H1B or H4 Visa stamping, you must first ensure that all your Social Media Profiles are public and accessible.
Below are some examples of what is not allowed and how it should look:
Instagram Private Profile
For instance, on Instagram, if your profile is private, it will appear like this. Your Instagram profile should not look like below if you are applying for an H1B or H4 Visa stamping.
Instagram Public Profile
Below is my public profile on Instagram. Everyone should be able to view the posts, and all your profile information. The idea behind making your profile public is to make sure the US Department of State systems can crawl your profile-related posts to do screening & vetting.
Twitter Private/ Protected
In Twitter, if you see the below that says “These tweets are protected,” this is considered private. If you are applying for an H1B or H4 Visa stamping, your X or Twitter profile should not look like the one below.
X / Twitter Public Profile
If your Twitter/ X profile is public, everyone should be able to see all your tweets, and your profile information. Here is my public profile on Twitter, and below is how it looks.
Depending on the social media platform, the private may look different. You, as the H1B Visa or H4 Visa applicant, must keep the URL that you put in when you fill in the DS-160. Social Media information should be public and accessible.
📌 One quick way to check if your profile is public is to take the URL of your social media profile and open it in an incognito window of the browser to see if you can see all the details.
What will the US Department of State Screen or Vet?
The US Department of State has not released any information on what they would look for in a H1B or H4 Visa applicant’s social media profiles. All they say is they would analyse before visa issuance if the applicant would not do any harm for Americans or their national interets.
Based on previous guidance from the F, M and J Visa Applicants similar additional vetting update, below is what we can expect:
- Based on their discretion on overall assessment, the applicants may be denied visa, if they are found one or more of these. The US Visa officers would assess the H1B or H4 Visa applicants’ information to:
- Find applicants who show hate or anger towards America, its culture, its people, its government, or its value system.
- Find applicants who help or support any terrorist organization that pose a threat to the U.S National Security.
- Find applicants who take part in illegal antisemitic behavior or get involved in such violence.
- If applicants do not have their social media profiles “public”, it maybe considered as an effort to hide activity and may result in denial of visa.
They have not mentioned whether they would go back and do vetting of H1B or H4 Visas already issued. It is likely applicable for new applicants from December 15th, 2025.
Common FAQs
It is applicable H1B Visa, H4 Visa, F, M and J Visa applicants, who are applying for a Visa outsie of the US.
As of December 4th, 2025, there are no new questions asked in the DS-160 application. We may see changes in the future, but as of now, nothing new.
Just deleting and making it empty may create more questions for the Visa officer. Never do anything that hides your social media activity. It may be viewed as you are trying to hide something. It is best to keep them as they are today and just make them public.
It is applicable for anyone applying for H1B, or H4 Visa stamping. It applies to all the new ones, extensions, transfers, and renewals as well.
What do you think of the new change of additional vetting for H1B and H4 visa holders? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
There is no social account I have used till now . No online presence at all. What should i do? I am on H4
Jia, if you have not used it. Just do not need to list anything.
Please help! With respect to the recent post -‘Announcement of Expanded Screening and Vetting for H-1B and Dependent H-4 Visa Applicants’, is it safe for a H4 dependant spouse with a valid stamped US visa to travel to India with children in the next two weeks?
Primary H1b holder- my spouse has a dismissed and expunged Domestic Violence case which happened in 2016 where was arrested but not convicted as was not found guilty.
Is it safe for us to travel to India without my spouse for something really important and enter safely back? Could there be any issue in the port of entry for me and my children (not citizens) during this period due to spouse’s past case history? Kindly confirm ! Thank you!
Rahul,
It is very hard to say. There have been some prudential revocations as well. Talk to an attorney.
The only social media I have is LinkedIn and I never had any social media to begin with. So in all my ds160 I have only listed that. What to do in that case?
Mpolicy,
If you only have one thing, then you just list that and make it public, in your case LinkedIN. That’s about it. Be honest and tell the visa officer the same.
How many days prior to your visa appointment should you make your social media open? Or should it be open from now on? How would the state dept know if and/or when someone is actually going for their visa stamping? i am guessing your profile would kind of hit their radar when you submit your DS-160 or go for your OFC.
Spet,
There is no specific guidance as such. Yes, you should have your profiles public the moment you submit your DS-160 form. This way their backend systems can crawl and do vetting.