ACLU Comment on “Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration”

The ACLU submitted this comment in response to the Department of State’s 60-Day Notice of Information Collection: Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration. This proposed information collection will require immigrant visa applicants to disclose social media handles and add new questions seeking phone numbers, email addresses, and international travel for the last five years as well as certain family members’ involvement in vague and undefined terrorist activities. These proposed questions needlessly expand personal information sought from approximately 710,000 people annually without adequate reason or information, slowing the visa application process and raising constitutional concerns regarding the rights to due process, freedom of speech and expression, and privacy of millions living in the United States, including U.S. citizens. The ACLU opposes the proposed collection and urges the Department to abandon it entirely.