In a move affecting thousands of Indian students planning to study in the US, the Embassy said that all F, M, and J non-immigrant visa applicants must make their social media accounts public to facilitate identity verification and security vetting.

The US Embassy in India, in a social post had asked Indian students to list all social media usernames or handles of every platform they have used in the last five years on their application form.

India has formally responded to the United States' directive requiring visa applicants to disclose their social media identifiers