The United States Mission in Nigeria has announced a new requirement for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visa applicants as it mandates that they set their social media account privacy settings to “public”.
This measure, the Mission says, aims to enhance vetting efforts and determine applicants’ identities and admissibility to the United States.
Visa categories affected are F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas for educational and exchange purposes, including academic and vocational trainees
The US Department of State announced this plan in June 2025, emphasizing that visa adjudication is a national security decision.
The comprehensive vetting process includes evaluating online presence to ensure applicants don’t pose a threat to US national interests. According to the US Embassy,
The United States Mission in Nigeria has announced that all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas must now adjust their social media account’s privacy settings to “public.”
F, M, and J visas are nonimmigrant visa categories issued by the US government for individuals coming to the country for educational and exchange purposes.
The mission stated that applicants in those categories must now set their personal social media profiles to public, as part of a new visa requirement.
The United States Diplomatic Mission Nigeria in post on its official X page on Monday, said policy was effective immediately.
The post said, “Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their personal social media accounts to ‘public.’”
Continuing, the post said, “We use all available information in our visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to US national security.”
The development may not catch Nigerians unawares as US Department of State had on June 18, 2025, said on it website: “we will conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J nonimmigrant classifications.”
“To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public.’”
