TÁNAISTE SIMON HARRIS has said he is “very concerned” with new US visa requirements which will force future applicants looking to visit the country to divulge “all social media usernames or handles of every platform they have used from the last five years” on their visa application form.

With the new US ambassador to Ireland, Edward Sharp Walsh, due to formally take up his post next month, Harris has said he intends to raise the matter with him. 

“I am very concerned by the updated advice, set out in a formal notice from the US State Department, in regard to expanded vetting of the social media accounts of new applicants for student visas to travel to the US.

“While US immigration policy is a matter for the US authorities, and I fully respect the administration’s right to determine their own immigration policy, this decision has understandably caused deep concern, confusion and apprehension for young Irish people who may wish to travel to the United States,” said the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

Harris said the relationship with the United States is “deep and enduring”, with thousands of people travelling in both directions every year.

“The intergenerational, people-to-people relationship between the US and Ireland begins with the opportunities that both countries afford to young people. It is important that we work to protect this,” he said.

Officials engaging with US embassy

“Therefore in light of these developments in relation to student visas, I have already and intend to take the following three actions.

“Last night, I have asked my officials to engage directly with the US embassy here in Dublin and with the administration more widely in a bid to ascertain and provide as much clarity as possible about these new arrangements, particularly to those students who are due to travel in the coming months,” said Harris.

He also asked his officials to engage with third-level institutions and organisations that provide services for students who wish to travel with the United States.

“This will be with the clear aim of providing as much clarity as possible on the impact of these new arrangements, relevant guidance and furthermore assessing what possible supports can be provided to young people who wish to travel to the United States in the coming months,” he added.

His comments come after the Taoiseach called the move by the US as “excessive”. 

“I don’t approve of them, and I don’t agree with them,” he told reporters in Dublin this afternoon.

“There is an issue around freedom of speech, but it’s more the atmosphere that’s created by these measures, the fear and the anxiety that young people will now experience travelling.”