Australians and other travellers off to the US from next year, for the World Cup or not, could face much stricter entry requirements even without the need for a visa.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wants stricter vetting of inbound visitors including searching social media, email and telephone call histories.
Details of the proposal shows it goes further than what has been reported by some media outlets; the full proposal has been listed on the US Federal Register, which lists federal laws and proposals.
Click here to view the document
At present, citizens of the 42 countries listed the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) can supply biometric data and answer questions under the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) system for a visit less than 90 days.
The Australian Government’s Smartraveller website points out that other US border requirements include registration for stays longer than 30 days and showing passports to board domestic flights.
BULLET POINTS OF PROPOSED CHANGES
The CBP will ‘tweak’ its mobile app to allow travellers to self-report their departure from the US by voluntarily providing biographic data from their passports or other travel documents and take and upload a facial (selfie) image (which is compulsory). The CBP says this is part of plans to fully automate the I-94 (travel form) data. Customs will track (‘geolocate’) a departing traveller to confirm they have left the US and run facial comparison software to check the selfie is a ‘live’ photo and not an older uploaded one. This will most likely be used for land border crossings, the agency says.
US Customs wants two photos of the traveller: the e-passport photo and a live ‘selfie’. It says third parties like travel agents or other family members will need to include a ‘selfie’ of the ESTA applicant’s face if applying on their behalf.
The CBP says data collection from visitors from a VWP country will be updated while the program will add countries like Qatar and remove Romania over the next three years.
ALSO AFFECTING TRAVELLERS
Decommissioning the ESTA website: The mobile app will become the only way to apply for a visa while the website will become a reference resource only and no longer collect data.
The CBP says travellers are deliberately uploading poor images to the website to bypass the facial comparison screening, which the app will stop.
The agency also says it is struggling with fake third-party websites that charge illegal fees for a fake application and will block such travellers from even getting on a US-bound flight.
Unlike the website, the ESTA app will be able to verify the e-passports of travellers by retrieving biographic data and portrait photos from the e-Chip, match the photo with a live selfie, and automatically deny any applications from banned countries.
Mandatory social media disclosure: Social media history is to be added as a mandatory requirement for an ESTA application with applicants to provide five years of history.
Detailed data collection: The CBP also wants the following data added to the application:
1. Call history (last five years);
2. Email addresses (last 10 years);
3. IP addresses and metadata in submitted photos; family names of parents, spouse, siblings and children;
4. Family call history (last five years), family’s dates and places of birth and address, and biometric data such as facial, fingerprint, DNA and iris;
5. Business calls (last five years) and business email addresses (last 10 years).
The deadline for public comments is February 9, 2026, after which it is expected to become law.
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