U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to require ESTA applicants to provide social media information covering the previous five years, under a proposal outlined in a notice scheduled for publication on December 10, 2025. The requirement would expand the personal data collected from tourists and business visitors using the Visa Waiver Program.
The proposed changes to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization would be open for public comment for 60 days after the notice’s publication. Implementation would depend on approval by the Office of Management and Budget, after which CBP could introduce the changes in stages.
Expanded personal and biometric data
CBP also intends to add further required fields “when feasible,” including personal and business telephone numbers used during the preceding five years and personal and business email addresses used during the preceding 10 years.
Additional fields would collect the names, dates and places of birth, and residences of family members, including parents, spouses, siblings and children. Family telephone numbers used during the previous five years would also be requested.
The proposed additions include facial, fingerprint, DNA and iris biometric information, as well as IP addresses and metadata from electronically submitted photographs. These fields are among those CBP intends to introduce when feasible.
CBP also plans to require a separate photograph of each applicant’s face alongside an image of their passport’s biographical page. Ultimately, the agency intends to accept applications only through ESTA Mobile. The website would remain available for programme information and application-status checks.
Immigration law firm Fragomen said the increased data collection could result in more applicants being flagged for closer scrutiny or facing longer approval waits if the changes are finalised.
Separate expansion of visa screening
The ESTA proposal follows broader screening measures under President Donald Trump. His January 2025 executive order, “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” directed agencies to strengthen screening and vetting of foreign nationals.
Separately, the State Department has announced that online presence reviews will extend to all H-1B visa applicants and their H-4 dependants from December 15. Student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M and J categories are already subject to those reviews.
The department instructed applicants in those visa categories to make all their social media profiles public to facilitate screening. It said it uses available information to identify applicants who are ineligible for visas, including those who pose national security or public safety threats.
In its May 13, 2025, forecast, the World Travel & Tourism Council said the United States was the only one of 184 economies analysed with Oxford Economics where international visitor spending was expected to decline in 2025. That forecast preceded the ESTA proposal.
