The Trump administration has proposed a new travel rule for foreign nationals entering the US. The new US travel policy is a move to tighten the screening of foreign entry into the United States. The new travel rule for foreigners requires US travellers under the ESTA visa waiver program to provide social media information from the last five years.
However, the new rule will not impact all travellers as it is meant only for foreign travellers under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) visa waiver program. There are 42 countries in the VWP list, including Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, among others.
It does not apply to Indian travellers as India is not on the visa waiver program list. Indians are required to go through the visa interview process as usual.
The US interview waiver policy, known as ‘Dropbox,’ has been discontinued for most travelers, effective September 2, 2025. This means that most applicants, including foreign workers on temporary visas and F-1 international students, will now need to attend in-person interviews for their visa applications.
US Customs and Border Protection has published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comments for 60 days on a proposal to collect social media data and other additional information, including applicants’ biometrics like DNA and iris scans.
If approved, this new rule for US travellers under the ESTA visa waiver program is likely to be implemented in 2026.
ESTA for VWP Travellers
The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) permits citizens of designated countries to travel to the United States for business or tourism for stays of up to 90 days without a visa. Travelers need to only have a valid Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) approval before travel and meet all other requirements.
The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is a pre-travel authorization from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and is required by all VWP travelers before boarding a plane for the United States.
The New Requirements
Citizens or eligible nationals of a Visa Waiver Program country can only apply for ESTA. There are 42 countries in the VWP list, including Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, among others.
Eligible individuals using the VWP to travel to the United States are comprehensively vetted before they depart for the United States, upon arrival at U.S. ports of entry, and during any subsequent air travel within the United States.
Now, in addition to the vetting, the new rule proposes to furnish social media information to the US authorities. CBP proposes to add social media as a mandatory data element for an ESTA application. The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years.
CBP has also proposed to capture ‘high-value data fields’ in the ESTA application. In addition to the information already collected in the ESTA application, applicants may be required to furnish:
- Telephone numbers used in the last five years
- Email addresses used in the last ten years
- IP addresses and metadata from electronically submitted photos
- Family member names (parents, spouse, siblings, children)
- Family number telephone numbers used in the last five years
- Family member dates of birth
- Family member places of birth
- Family member residencies
- Biometrics—face, fingerprint, DNA, and iris
- Business telephone numbers used in the last five years
- Business email addresses used in the last ten years.