United States: CBP Plans Changes to the ESTA Application Process, Including Social Media Review

According to the FR notice, CBP is planning the following changes to the ESTA application process:

• Mandatory social media information collection. CBP is planning to add social media as a mandatory data element for an ESTA application and will require applicants to provide their social media information from the five years preceding their application.
• Additional required personal information. CBP intends to add several data fields to the ESTA application “when feasible,” including:
  • Telephone numbers used by applicant in the preceding five years;
  • Email addresses used by applicant in the preceding ten years;
  • IP addresses and metadata from electronically submitted photos;
  • Family member names (parents, spouse, siblings, children) and dates and places of birth;
  • Family telephone numbers used in the preceding five years;
  • Family member residences;
  • Biometrics – face, fingerprint, DNA, and iris;
  • Business telephone numbers used by the applicant in the preceding five years; and
  • Business email addresses used by the applicant in the preceding ten years.
• Separate photo upload requirement. CBP is planning to update the ESTA website and ESTA mobile application to always require the upload of a photograph of the applicant’s face, in addition to the photo of the passport biographical page. Currently, the ESTA website does not require a separate photo upload and the ESTA Mobile application only requires the photo in certain instances.
• ESTA application website decommission; ESTA Mobile as sole application option. Ultimately, CBP plans to require ESTA applicants to submit applications solely through the ESTA Mobile application and will decommission the ESTA application website. The ESTA website would remain available as an information resource for the VWP program and as a tool for ESTA applicants to check the status of their submitted ESTA applications, but applicants would be required to use the ESTA Mobile application to apply for ESTA. CBP cites certain technological limitations of the ESTA website as the basis for the planned change.

Apart from the ESTA changes, CBP also plans to implement an optional new functionality within the CBP Home mobile application that would allow foreign nationals to provide evidence of their departure from the United States. If a foreign national chooses to record their departure through the mobile application, they will be required to submit their facial image and CBP will use geolocation services to confirm that the foreign national is outside the United States. The agency will also run “liveness detection” software on the uploaded facial image to determine that the photo is a live photo as opposed to a previously uploaded one. If a foreign national chooses to submit evidence of their departure, the report of the exit would be recorded as a confirmed departure in the CBP Arrival and Departure System (ADIS).

CBP will accept public comments on the planned ESTA and departure record changes for 60 days after publication in the December 10 Federal Register notice. If the changes are then approved by the Office of Management and Budget, CBP may implement the changes in stages over the following weeks and months.

ESTA applicants should be aware that if these changes are finalized, they would be asked for a higher level of personal detail in future applications and become subject to a social media review by CBP. The increase in data collection could also mean that ESTA applicants would face an increased likelihood of being flagged for closer scrutiny and/or would experience longer waits for ESTA approval.

Fragomen is closely monitoring these developments and will provide updates as new information becomes available. If your organization wishes to comment on the proposed CBP changes, please contact your designated Fragomen professional or the firm’s Government Strategies and Compliance Group.