BORDERS: Visa Waiver Program to require social media, phone numbers and IP history from Australians

Australian travellers who want to head to New York at Christmas, or Coachella in spring, or to trek through the Grand Canyon may soon face a very different pre-departure checklist. It could soon include handing over five years of social media accounts, five years of phone numbers, and 10 years of email addresses. You may need to provide U.S. authorities with access to your IP addresses, photo metadata, and biometrics, including fingerprints, facial data, and DNA.

This is the Trump administration’s newly proposed ‘enhanced vetting’ published this week (10 December 2025) in the Federal Register. It is proposed to apply to anyone entering under the Visa Waiver Program, including Australians using the familiar ESTA system.

The proposal is subject to a 60-day consultation period and is expected to be implemented thereafter. This is not a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’.

What exactly is changing?

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), backed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has filed a proposal that would make social media disclosure mandatory rather than optional. Until now, ESTA applicants were required to provide Instagram handles, X/Twitter usernames, Facebook profiles, and LinkedIn pages, but you could skip those fields and still be approved.

Under the new rules, you won’t have that choice.

ESTA applications would require the following as mandatory:

• All social media account names from the past five years
• Phone numbers covering five years
• Email addresses covering ten years
• IP address history
• Metadata from uploaded photos
• Information about family members (names, DOBs, residences)
• Business contacts
• Biometric markers, including face, fingerprints, iris scans, and, in the proposal’s fine print, DNA

I thought that supplying a 10-year travel history for my Russian visa application nearly 10 years ago was onerous! The new rules apply to anyone from the 42 Visa Waiver Program countries, including the UK, France, Japan, Israel, New Zealand and, of course, Australia.

Trump executive order

The DHS filing cites a Trump executive order requiring authorities to “re-establish a uniform baseline” for vetting foreign nationals. That’s essentially restoring security protocols from the final days of Trump’s first term. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is overseeing the policy shift as part of a broader immigration crackdown following several security incidents in the US in 2025, including the shooting of National Guard members in Washington.

This push goes hand in hand with an expansion of the U.S. travel ban to potentially 30 countries. It currently affects 19 countries. Visa processing is currently frozen for Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. If you are a citizen of the following countries, then you have restricted access to most visa types: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Impact for Australian travellers

More than 1 million Australians visited the US in 2024, and 810,000 have travelled there so far in 2025. That’s significant but an over 5% drop on the previous year. Most entrants use ESTA. If these new rules are approved, Australian holidaymakers and business travellers will face a very changed entry situation including the following:

A significantly more intrusive application process

ESTA is popular because it’s fast, cheap and easy. For US$40 entry is usually approved within hours. Under the new model, the form becomes something akin to a mini security file. You will need to provide a long-term digital history that most people won’t have at their fingertips.

You will have to remember every email address you’ve used since 2015. Give them very phone number you have been reachable at for the last five years. You will have to provide all your old usernames and your IP address history. Now if like me who has lived in the same house for more than a decade, this is difficult, but not impossible. If I cast my mind back to my 20s and 30s, providing the same information would be almost impossible given my changes of address, and moves around the country.

Higher risk of delays, rejections or secondary screening

The increased data collection will naturally lead to more flags, red or otherwise, and hence more applicants sent to manual review. That means, without big increases in funding and staffing, waiting times could increase from minutes to days and weeks.

Australians with politically sensitive posts, activist history, or colourful social media commentary may face additional scrutiny. That’s if Australian student Alistair Kitchen who was detained, questioned over pro-Palestinian protest activity, and ultimately deported, after writing about events while studying in the US, is any guide.

Less privacy — and more data stored by the US government

Even for travellers with no controversial online activity, the sheer volume of personal data now required raises questions about privacy and data security. Once shared with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), your digital history becomes part of a permanent US file.

Australians already submit biometrics when applying for many visas worldwide, but the potential inclusion of DNA would take this a big step further.

A bigger burden for families

Parents filling out ESTA applications will be required to declare their children’s social media usernames. This could be a major headache for households managing multiple devices, accounts and privacy settings, not to mention questions about minors’ rights.

What might get you in trouble. . .

Immigration lawyers say the focus will be squarely on anything that could be read as anti-American, anti-Israel, or potentially encouraging unrest or violence. Posts that address sensitive political issues, heated protests, or anything that could be construed, rightly or wrongly, as sympathetic to extremist causes may attract additional scrutiny.

It’s not just politics, either. Evidence of illegal behaviour is an immediate hazard, even if the activity would be perfectly legal in some parts of the US today. An example is cannabis. While its recreational use is allowed in states like Colorado and California, it remains illegal at the federal level, which governs immigration decisions. So, even a harmless holiday snap taken outside a dispensary could become a problem.

Travellers should also be mindful of any posts that could be interpreted as working while on a previous ESTA. That’s strictly prohibited under ESTA. Musicians, influencers and creatives are particularly vulnerable here. What may seem like an innocent photo of you playing a gig during a past tourist trip could be interpreted as unauthorised employment, triggering entry denial.

The effect on travel demand

Australians love the USA, but demand is already down 5.6% this year. Long ESTA approval times, privacy concerns, and the possibility of being denied boarding at the airport could see this percentage increase.

If airfares rise or the Australian dollar weakens, the travel calculus would shift again. Tour operators and agents will be watching closely. If ESTA processing slows due to added complications, travellers may pivot to Canada, Japan, Europe, or South America instead.

It will probably start soon

The DHS proposal is open for 60 days of public comment. Then it must be approved by the US Office of Management and Budget. It could change, tighten further, or pass largely as-is. But the direction of collecting more personal data for travel is unmistakable.

Any Australian planning a US holiday in 2026 should keep a close eye on this.

2PAXfly Takeout

If you have US travel on the horizon, consider applying early before this change is effected. Also, double-checking your digital footprint and preparing for a more thorough vetting process is probably wise. The golden age of efficient online ESTA approvals looks like it’s hitting its sunset.

The USA is becoming more administratively demanding.