US expands social media vetting to I, TN and TD visa applicants

Since October 1, applicants for I, TN and TD visas must make their social media profiles public for the State Department's online presence review, a change that reaches Turkish journalists and Turkish family members of TN holders.

The U.S. State Department has extended its online presence review to applicants for I, TN and TD visas as of October 1, 2026. Applicants in these categories are told to set the privacy settings of all their social media profiles to "public" so they can be reviewed as part of the visa process. The department announced the change in late September.

For Türkiye, the I visa is the most relevant: it is used by representatives of foreign media and people working in the press, radio and similar fields, including Turkish journalists traveling to the U.S. for work. TN status is for Canadian and Mexican professionals under the USMCA, but the TD visa for their spouses and children does not require Canadian or Mexican citizenship, so a Turkish spouse or child of a TN holder applying for TD also falls under the new review.

Social media screening is not new. The State Department has asked for social media identifiers on most immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications since 2019, and the online presence review already covered student and exchange visas (F, M and J) as well as H-1B and some H-4 applicants. In March 2026 it was widened to more categories, including A-3, C-3, G-5, H-3, K, Q, R, S, T and U.

The department says it uses all available information in visa adjudications to identify applicants who are inadmissible to the United States or pose a threat to national security or public safety. The rule does not require every Turkish traveler to open their accounts; it applies only to applicants in the categories under review.