JJapan

US Visa Applications from Japan Now Require Disclosing 5 Years of Social Media History

  • April 24, 2025

US Visa Applications from Japan Now Require Disclosing 5 Years of Social Media History

by moeka_8962

48 comments

  2. Never travelled nor planning a trip to the US anytime soon, but I can assure you that majority of people will not remember all social media accounts they used. By now I probably have like 3 Pinterest accounts, at least 1 tumblr account I’ve forgotten about, maybe 1-2 email inboxes I don’t remember about as they were created as 1 time things for certain services, 2-3 Facebook accounts for various hobby-related activities, and God knows what else. Feels weird to first of all even request all of that, and seems like an unnecessary addition of work for the employees reviewing all of that – especially since the accounts could be deleted. At least from European branches of social medias, that could be a lengthy, if not even impossible process of recovering data due to the GDPR.

    I do wonder if they will try to actually look for the deleted/inactive accounts if they fail to be provided, and what could be the consequences aside from the visa denial.

  5. From Japan? From my experience here, the Japanese are very apolitical. Social media posts are just food and nature. Could just be my friend group.

  7. I am so glad that I went to the US in February. I would have been completely screwed if my trip had been any later than it was. Now I wouldn’t want to go at all.

  10. Sorry but can someone explain why would one need this visa when you can get the esta?

  11. I’d advise everyone to avoid traveling to the US for the near future, unless you’re a native US citizen.

  12. Gotta make sure you didn’t ever say anything bad about the glorious leader, Tesla, or Israel lest ye be a terrorist…

  13. For everyone complaining, the social media links has been on visa applications since Obama. Now it’s just flagged as “required”. Like many other countries.

    Joke is… if it’s all in Japanese, do you think anyone in consular services is going to be able to translate it or go through a translation bot.

  15. Make sure you praise Trump in your SNS account to get VISA approval.

    What am I saying? Seriously, when does the ministry of foreign affairs of Japan issue a travel warning to US?

  16. can we pretend like we’re cavemen and we don’t have social media acc like at all

  20. It should be the other way around. Keep the problematic influencers out of jp

  21. lol. Not that I care about a US Visa but what about people that have never had a social media account (like me)? Does one just say there’s nothing to disclose? Does Reddit count as a social media account)? lol.

  25. Hmm isn’t ESTA application make it only optional? Is it mandatory for actual visas?

  26. Surprised they aren’t doing this their own citizens yet. Gotta make sure everyone thinks the right way.
    Other wise it’s off to the “work farm” in Mississippi for a little legalized slavery picking fruit or literally cotton for Pennies a day.

  27. What about American Citizens who have been away for sometime, who perhaps have said some very incendiary things about the Orange Regime on their socials.. asking for a friend that may resemble me

  28. Time for burner phones. The US is officially a fascist country. Don’t go to America. Go visit Canada where they still have freedom and don’t hate you. Fuck Trump’s America hard.

  31. I have a fake name for all my accounts, JoeSmith, do I Disclose all 50 of my fake accounts ? I never use my real name in any of my accounts

  34. I think most ppl in the world are anti genocide. Are they trying to destroy their tourism and int. students industry?

  35. And they do what? Translate all posts? 

    Imagine getting a visa refused, or being deported because of a bad translation. 

  36. Before everyone gets their nickers in a snit, this only applies to non-immigrant visas. e.g. People wanting a student visa, or some other temporary visa that allows them to stay more than 90 days, but is not on an immigration path. The visa waiver program for tourist entry still applies and does not require social media disclosure.

    Don’t get me wrong. Still an authoritarian decision. But won’t impact most people coming to the country. And yes, yes, first they came for the student visas, and I wasn’t a student so I said nothing, then they came for the … you know the rest …

  37. The US government is sending clear signals that foreigners are not welcome. This will destroy not only tourism but also universities.

  40. Does anyone expect they’ll actually be able to read any of it since it’s mostly going to be in Japanese?

  42. What if I have nothing? I stopped logging into instagram and facebook. On X, I post nothing.

  43. >the US Department of State (DOS) and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have been checking the social media accounts of visa applicants and immigrants since at least 2019

    I don’t know what to make of the article, which I know most of you didn’t read. This isn’t anything new. Are they changing the way they do the checking? Or are they changing how far back they’re checking?

    It gets so hard to tell whether an article is simply from a TDS sufferer these days, or if there’s been some genuine change to the status quo.

  44. This has been around for a while in various forms, I had to disclose my accounts in 2020 as part of my green card application.

  45. I don’t even have social media (aside from Reddit), they’re probably going to find that suspicious. 😭

  47. Sigh.

    As an American, I am genuinely so very sorry about the state of things.

  48. Why would anyone from Japan want to relocate to the US. It’s a downgrade in every way. Just stay out of that shithole.

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