U.S. Embassy resumes visa applications, requests personal social media be made public

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul resumed accepting visa applications for student and exchange visitors Friday, saying it will conduct “thorough vetting” of applicants’ presence on social media.

The announcement is in line with the U.S. State Department’s release on Thursday (U.S. time) that all U.S. overseas missions will be rescheduling applications for F, M and J nonimmigrant visas.

“The Embassy will resume scheduling F, M, and J nonimmigrant visa applications soon,” the embassy said in a media release, asking applicants to check the U.S. visa scheduling website on https://www.ustraveldocs.com/kr

“All applicants for F, M, J nonimmigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy setting on all of their social media profiles to ‘public,’” the embassy said.

In a notice posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the embassy also said all applicants for F, M and J visas should set all posts on their social media accounts to public.

Applicants are also required to list all of the usernames they have used in the past five years on the DS-160 visa application form, the embassy said, adding that failure to provide accurate and truthful responses in the application may result in denial of the visa.

The decision came weeks after the United States suspended the student visa application process in a move to tighten screening of foreigners potentially posing a threat to U.S. national security.