taco

Fair enough, though that’s an ask from the State Dept., not a demand from the embassy, as indicated in the OP. It’s an important distinction because the embassy holds the authority at that point in the process. They can ignore the guidance altogether or demand everyone open their profiles. They’re probably more likely to do the latter now, but they could’ve done this two years ago too.

Demanding the usernames for the past 5 years and being suspect of anyone not on social media isn’t a new, that was my main point. I don’t think many people appreciated how shitfucked our visa processes are, even before the current “administration” helping.

The username requirement isn’t anything new; that requirement was on our DS-160 years ago.

The “wants people to set their social media profiles to public” isn’t quoted, so seems less like an official policy anywhere and more like one embassy worker being a prick. Unfortunately, each individual embassy operates independently totally devoid of any accountability.

This process is dehumanizing, inefficient, and totally fucked…but this particular part of it has been this was for a long-ass time.