Disclosing social media identifiers
There are new questions in Form DS 260, the Immigrant Visa Application Form, and in DS-160, the Non-Immigrant Visa Application Form, which every applicant must answer now that were not required before. Specifically, it asks for telephone numbers and email addresses in the last five years, social media accounts and identifiers and whether the applicant is willing to provide any information about his presence on any other websites the applicant used within the last five years to create or share content such as photos, videos, or status updates, etc.
While the applicants are not asked for the passwords of their social media accounts, they are required to provide all social media presence they have. This updated policy, which took effect in May of this year, serves as an additional tool for vetting and screening applicants as a matter of national safety and security. Thus, it can be safely concluded that as part of background check, your postings in, say, Facebook, in the last five years will be reviewed and noted. So you better watch what you post, like or share in your social media accounts.
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I would be remiss if I do not say a word or two about what is happening today in my alma mater, the University of San Jose-Recoletos School of Law. Today is the Juris Doctor Conferment for all alumni who graduated under the then Bachelor of Laws program. Thus past LLB graduates would now be considered as having obtained doctoral degrees which is equivalent to the doctoral degrees of non-legal academic disciplines such as Ph.D or Ed.D. The relevancy and significance of this equivalency comes into play for purposes of appointment, employment, ranking, and compensation of JD degree holders. I feel that this recognition is long overdue and well-deserved for all the hard work of those extra four years of post-graduate study. Due to demands of work and other obligations here in the US, I could not attend this very important milestone. Nonetheless, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to my fellow alumni who can now be rightfully addressed as doctors or suffix their names with JD.