The Committee to Protect Journalists called a Department of Homeland Security rule shortening foreign journalists’ U.S. visas to 240 days “the behavior of a backsliding democracy, not the international vanguard of free speech” when the agency finalized it in July.
That same broader push to tighten oversight of international reporters working in the United States is now extending further upstream: the State Department will require foreign journalists applying for visas to make their social media accounts public for government screening, according to an internal memo reported Thursday by the conservative outlet the Daily Signal.
The memo described an expansion of an existing online-presence vetting program, which already applies to many other visa categories, to cover foreign media representatives and applicants for a separate visa category used by certain workers from Canada and Mexico. Neither the White House nor the State Department disputed the substance of the report; both agencies’ official accounts on X shared a link to the Daily Signal article Thursday, though the State Department said it does not comment on what it called purported internal documents. A department spokesperson said the government screens “every foreign national seeking admission to the United States to ensure they will respect U.S. law including the terms of their admission and do not pose a threat to U.S. security, public safety or national interests,” adding that consular officers use a range of methods to verify applicants and guard against fraud. It remained unclear when the expanded policy would take effect.
The social media screening builds on the visa-duration rule DHS finalized July 16, which eliminated the “duration of status” system that had let foreign journalists remain in the country for as long as five years while they met visa requirements. In its place, DHS set a fixed 240-day limit for most foreign journalists and just 90 days for reporters from mainland China, with the option to apply for extensions.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the change, arguing the prior system had compromised national security and created conditions ripe for immigration fraud, and that the new fixed terms would let the government “properly screen, vet and monitor individuals” inside U.S. borders. The rule takes full effect in September, and press organizations reacted immediately: Reporters Without Borders said it was outraged, and Gabe Rottman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press warned the change gives officials “an avenue to not renew a journalist’s visa in retaliation for coverage it perceives as critical.” China’s government has warned of reciprocal measures against American journalists working there.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon urged DHS to abandon the visa-length change before it was finalized, writing to the agency that shortening journalist visas “would stifle meaningful reporting, chill press freedoms, diminish our global influence, and waste government resources on unnecessary bureaucratic processes.” His warning went unheeded; the rule proceeded largely as DHS first proposed it last August.
The social media component fits a wider pattern the Trump administration has pursued since returning to office in January 2025. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has said it screens immigrants’ and visa applicants’ social media posts for what the agency considers antisemitic content and “anti-Americanism,” and consular officers were separately instructed in cables to flag applicants who show hostility toward American “citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles.” That directive first applied broadly to foreign student visa applicants, a pool exceeding 400,000 people annually, requiring them to set their social media accounts to public before consular interviews would proceed. Foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian campus activism have had their visas canceled, with the administration attempting deportation proceedings in several cases that remain contested in federal court. Separately, the State Department said in October 2025 it had revoked visas belonging to six foreign nationals over remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and said it would keep identifying visa holders it believed had celebrated the killing.
Civil liberties groups have raised concerns throughout the rollout of these measures, arguing that screening applicants’ political speech gives the government broad discretion to deny entry based on viewpoint rather than any demonstrated security risk. The administration has maintained that the screening is content-neutral and aimed solely at confirming applicants meet existing legal requirements for admission. The scope of the newly reported memo, including how officers would evaluate what they find on journalists’ accounts, has not been made public.
