M'sian Students Applying for US Visas Must Now Unprivate Their Social Media Accounts

Who doesn’t dream of studying abroad? If you're planning to do just that and have your sights set on the United States of America (US), there's a new requirement you should know about.

In a recent post on X by the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, it was announced that all individuals applying for F, M, or J visas must now set their social media accounts to public.

For context, the F visa is for academic students, the M visa is for vocational or technical training, and the J visa is for participants in approved exchange programmes.

Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to public to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States… pic.twitter.com/JR9e5qMlDA
— U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur (@usembassykl) June 30, 2025

According to the embassy, social media presence is now part of the vetting process to help US authorities verify applicants' identities and assess their eligibility. They also clarified that this initiative isn’t entirely new, it has actually been in place since 2019.

Image Credit: Aura

A report by Malay Mail noted that countries such as Thailand, India, Japan, and South Africa are among those where the US has announced this updated visa requirement in 2025.

Applicants must also provide usernames for all social media platforms they've used in the past five years, including inactive accounts.

Featured Image Credit: Hallam, Visafoto