A recent policy proposal from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) outlines the most significant overhaul of U.S. entry rules for Visa Waiver travellers in more than a decade, directly affecting EU travel, UK visitors, foreign nationals and all ESTA-eligible countries. If enacted, citizens of the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Israel and other VWP-states may be required to provide a five-year archive of social media activity, including platform usernames, associated accounts, aliases and historical digital identifiers. This information would become a formal component of mandatory ESTA authorisation, shifting the system from identity-only screening toward long-form behavioural, communication-trace and digital-footprint assessment.
Under the draft, ESTA submissions would be accepted exclusively through the official mobile App, removing the existing web-form pathway relied upon by most applicants. The change expands data depth, standardises cross-platform account disclosure and introduces an evaluative framework capable of retroactive review. The application would only be accepted through the official mobile App, eliminating the website route used by most travellers today, reported by The WP Times citing CBP.— U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
If implemented, ESTA screening would no longer focus primarily on identity verification. The form would expand into a multilayered personal audit. New proposed fields include:
• full list of all email addresses used in 5–10 years
• all previous phone numbers (personal + professional)
• names, contact details, dates and places of birth of close relatives
• biometric expansion provisions for future integration
• retrospective review of online activity — not only factual, but expressive
This would formalise a shift from simple background confirmation to behavioural and social-trace screening. For the first time, immigration officers could legally assess tone, affiliations, or controversial public statements before granting entry.
Statements to The New York Times describe the initiative as a paradigm and procedural shift, suggesting that digital behaviour may hold equal weight to passport identity. Historically, social media was requested only voluntarily and used as an auxiliary verification channel. The new framework recategorises it as a primary element of risk assessment.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) warns that long-form digital submission may increase refusal rates for travellers with incomplete data history or inaccessible old accounts. Civil-liberty analysts expect higher time-frames for processing due to extended screening and potential algorithmic analysis. For regular leisure travellers — especially those without archived contact lists — preparation time before applying may increase substantially.
The proposal is not yet enacted. It remains open to public comment within the United States. In the event of approval, operational deployment could begin from spring 2026, though staging may occur in phases depending on App capacity, algorithm rollout and data-storage integration.
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