The Trump administration intends to increase screening of H-1B visa applicants, with specific instructions to reject anyone involved in alleged “censorship” of free speech. The instructions were detailed in a telegram sent by the State Department to US missions abroad last Tuesday, the second of this month.
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The cable, which Bloomberg obtained, said: “Be careful: candidates responsible or complicit with US censorship.”
H-1B visas were created to attract highly skilled workers (scientists, engineers, and software programmers, among others) and are widely used in the technology industry, including social media companies that the White House has criticized amid questions about censorship abroad.
The cable states that all individuals applying for visas are subject to the policy, but H-1B visa applicants in particular are more likely to work for social media or financial services companies “engaged in the suppression of protected expression.”
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These instructions come after President Donald Trump threatened a series of aggressive measures to restrict legal immigration to the United States, in response to the death of a National Guard member after an ambush near the White House last month. The government had already imposed a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications in September.
Consular officers are encouraged to review resumes and profiles on LinkedIn, as well as articles in trade publications. Among the points that will be flagged are compliance with content moderation or censorship requirements imposed by a foreign entity, or “adopting global content moderation policies that conflict with freedom of expression.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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In June, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered greater scrutiny of the social media profiles of foreign nationals seeking to visit Harvard, telling U.S. consular officials that applicants’ lack of online presence could be sufficient evidence to deny a visa.
The United States awards 85,000 H-1B visas every year through a lottery system, with Indian citizens accounting for about three-quarters of the beneficiaries.