Indian students and H-1B applicants have been told for months to make their social accounts public. Tourists heard the same thing and panicked. The US Mission India's own instruction settles it: the requirement is attached to a named list of visa categories, and B1/B2 is not on it.
In this guide2 sections
The exact list#
The Mission's visa page instructs "all individuals applying for an A-3, C-3 (if a domestic worker), G-5, H1-B, H-3, H-4 dependent of H-1B and H-3, F, M, J, K-1, K-2, K-3, Q, R-1, R-2, S, T, or U nonimmigrant visa" to "adjust the privacy setting on all social media accounts to 'public' or 'open' to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. law."
Read it as three groups: study and exchange (F, M, J), work and dependants (H-1B, H-3, H-4, plus domestic-worker categories A-3, C-3, G-5), and family or special categories (K-1, K-2, K-3, Q, R, S, T, U). Visitor visas — the B1/B2 that most Indian travellers apply for — are absent.
What every applicant still has to do#
Declare the handles. The DS-160 asks all applicants for social media identifiers used in the previous five years, and that has not changed. The privacy-setting instruction is an additional step for the listed categories, not a replacement for the declaration.
The practical risk is not an embarrassing post — it is an omission. A handle you forget, or leave out because the account is dormant, turns into a discrepancy if vetting surfaces it later, and a discrepancy in a form you signed is a materially different problem from a bad opinion online. The DS-160 mistakes that cost people the interview guide covers the fields where this goes wrong most often.
If you are applying for a visitor visa, none of this changes your file: the questions that decide a B1/B2 are still purpose of travel and ties, as covered in 214(b) and 221(g): what to do next and US visa interview questions.
VisaGyan is an independent journal, not affiliated with the US government. This is not legal advice; check the Mission's own page before you apply.
Frequently asked questions
- Do B1/B2 tourist applicants have to make their social media public?
- The US Mission India instruction names specific categories — A-3, C-3 domestic workers, G-5, H-1B, H-3, H-4 dependants, F, M, J, K-1, K-2, K-3, Q, R-1, R-2, S, T and U. B1/B2 is not among them. The DS-160 still asks every applicant to list social media handles used in the past five years; that question is separate from the privacy-setting instruction.
- Which visa applicants are told to set accounts to public?
- Students and exchange visitors (F, M, J), H-1B workers and their H-4 dependants, H-3 trainees, fiancé(e) and spouse categories K-1, K-2, K-3, plus A-3, C-3 domestic workers, G-5, Q, R-1, R-2, S, T and U. They are instructed to "adjust the privacy setting on all social media accounts to public or open".
- What happens if I leave a handle off the DS-160?
- An omission that the vetting process finds later reads as a misrepresentation rather than an oversight, and misrepresentation is a far more serious problem than an awkward post. List every platform used in the last five years, including accounts you no longer use.