Anyone applying for US visa will now be required to make major change to social media accounts

Foreign students planning on visiting America in the coming years will now have to abide by a controversial change to visa rules, which will directly affect their social media usage.

According to The Guardian, new legislation put into place by the state department on Wednesday (25 June) will require any tourists from foreign lands to give US diplomats full access to their online profiles for the purposes of background checks.

As such, this means any visitors to the country with 'private' social media profiles - which only permits their followers access to their content - will have to make their accounts 'public', meaning outsiders can see the stuff they've been posting.

As we say, the move is aimed at giving American diplomats the power to conduct online presence reviews to uncover 'any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States'.

Several categories of visitor will be affected (Getty Stock Image)

Politico report that these agents have been instructed to raise any 'advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security' and 'support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence' with higher authorities'.

The latter aspect of the threat aligns with similar guidance previously given by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Department of Homeland Security, reportedly aimed at cracking down on opposition to the conduct of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Making its announcement this week, the state department emphasised that anyone who fails to comply would be suspected of hiding activity, and could have their educational and exchange visas declined.

The new rule is reportedly aimed at foreign students, as well as individuals applying for visas in the F, M, and J categories - these refer to academic and vocational education, and cultural exchanges.

On this, a senior state department official declared: "It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump administration is doing every single day."

Trump with secretary of state, Marco Rubio (Getty Stock Image)

They continued: "To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M and J non-immigrant visas will be asked to adjust the privacy settings on all their social media profiles to 'public'.

"The enhanced social media vetting will ensure we are properly screening every single person attempting to visit our country."

The same individual added that secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is 'helping to make America and its universities safer while bringing the state Department into the 21st century'.

President Donald Trump's right-wing administration made the decision to put a stop to new education visas being handed out last month, whilst considering the possibility of implementing the drastic social media strategy.

It is also said that students visiting America from China will be played under specialised scrutiny, following tense tariff negotiations earlier this year.