VISA Act of 2017 (Visa Investigation and Social Media Act)
Current understanding
The VISA Act of 2017 would require social media background checks, in-person interviews for visa and immigration benefit applicants aged 11 and older, and deployment of analytics software to detect fraud and national security threats across all visa and immigration benefit adjudications. Practical effect: significantly expanded vetting workload for consular and USCIS officers, longer wait times, and broader surveillance of applicants’ online activity; children as young as 11 would face in-person interviews. Status: introduced legislation; not enacted.
Evidence log
- 2017-03-07 — VISA Act of 2017: cross-connection with sevis-terrorist-endorsement-reporting-act: Both extend national-security-oriented surveillance of visa applicants and holders — VISA Act at the application stage via social media screening, SEVIS bill during enrollment via institutional reporting. (novelty: 2)