The Trump Administration recently approved even harsher vetting processes for people applying for a visa to travel to the United States. The U.S. currently has one of the most complicated visa processes in the world, and many groups believe that even stricter rules will put off foreign students, scientists, and others from coming here.

The new rules would allow officials to question applicants about their social media accounts, email addresses, and phone numbers from the past five years. Applicants would also have to divulge their home addresses, employment, and travel history from the past 15 years, as well as all previous passport numbers. So people would need to keep all the passports they have owned throughout their lives to apply for a visa to America.

All visa applicants wouldn’t face these new questions. It would be up to each consular official to determine whether additional questions are needed to “conduct more rigorous national security vetting,” according to a State Department official. They would also be voluntary, as the questionnaire states, but not answering them could result in the visa being delayed or denied.

Trump admin’s ridiculous new visa rules will hurt the economy. Total contribution of tourism in 2016: 8.1% of GDP https://t.co/jJQkgt5m5r

— Rachel Glickhouse (@Riogringa) June 2, 2017

The Office of Management and Budget approved the new questions last week. More than 50 academic groups representing college admission counselors and advisers criticized the new rules in a letter to the State Department. They wrote that the new rules could act as a deterrent for foreign students seeking to study in the U.S. and might also lead to confusion, uncertainty, and long delays in processing times.

It is also very ill-defined and vague in regard to who is affected by the new rules. One estimation said that the questions would apply to about 65,000 visa applicants every year. Earlier, the State Department said the new questionnaire would affect those “who have been determined to warrant additional scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities.”

But it’s likely that not everyone will remember every single place they traveled to in the past 15 years, or even every social media handle they are signed up for. Immigration advocates have said such detailed questions are likely to stop travelers who make honest mistakes from being granted visas. And since the questions are voluntary, and not answering could–or could not–mean that your visa is denied, it makes it an arbitrary process.

For now, the questionnaire has been emergency approved to be used for six months–the usual time for this type of vetting is three years. Considering the majority of the 200 comments submitted when the new rules were open for public comments were negative, this is likely to create more frustration and protests in the near future.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Melania Trump’s recent nude photo scandal has raised a lot of questions about her immigration to the U.S., causing people to wonder if the wife of the “Build The Wall” presidential nominee was once an illegal immigrant herself.

The speculation began after the New York Post posted photos of Melania from a nude photoshoot that took place in New York in 1995. According to Politico, this conflicts with Melania’s statements that she first came to the U.S. in 1996 and traveled every few months back to her home country of Slovenia to stamp the visa.

“I came here for my career,” Melania told Harper’s Bazaar in January, “It never crossed my mind to stay here without papers. That is just the person you are. You follow the rules. You follow the law. Every few months you need to fly back to Europe and stamp your visa. After a few visas, I applied for a green card and got it in 2001. After the green card, I applied for citizenship. And it was a long process.”

This seemingly small timeline discrepancy was enough for Politico reporters Ben Schreckinger and Gabriel Debendetti to begin poking holes into the former Slovenian’s model’s story, revealing crucial gaps. Politico writes,

Trump’s tale of returning to Europe for periodic visa renewals is inconsistent with her holding an H-1B visa at all times she was living in New York — even if it was the lesser-known H-1B visa specifically designed for models — said multiple immigration attorneys and experts. An H-1B visa can be valid for three years and can be extended up to six years — sometimes longer — and would not require renewals in Europe every few months. If, as she has said, Trump came to New York in 1996 and obtained a green card in 2001, she likely would not have had to return to Europe even once to renew an H-1B.

They concluded that Melania’s story was actually more consistent with someone traveling on a B-1 Temporary Business Visitor or B-2 Tourist Visa. If Melania was in fact using a B-1 or B-2 Visa while working in the United States, instead of an H-1B Visa, that would mean that she was working illegally in the country–making her, for all intents and purposes, an illegal immigrant.

Melania responded to the rumors on Twitter, denying the allegations with the following tweet.

pic.twitter.com/U3VTY05mzc

— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) August 4, 2016

Melania’s former agent Paolo Zampolli has since corroborated her story, telling the AP that he did, in fact, secure her an H-1B visa for models. However, many still aren’t convinced that she followed the letter of the law when immigrating to the U.S. If these allegations are correct it could potentially be troubling for her husband’s campaign, which relies heavily on opposition to illegal immigration.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Walmart is suing Visa in order to require customers with chip-enabled debit cards authorize their transactions with a PIN instead of a signature.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York Supreme Court, Walmart claims Visa is forcing the retailer to allow chip-using customers to use signatures, even though signatures are essentially “worthless as a form of authentication.”

According to the The New York Times, a Walmart spokesman said in a statement:

This suit is about protecting our customers’ bank accounts when they use their debit cards at Wal-Mart. We have long advocated for ‘PIN verification’ as opposed to the less secure signature verification for debit transactions. PIN is the only truly secure form of cardholder verification in the marketplace today, and it offers superior security to our customers.

Currently, Walmart customers with chip-enabled cards are asked to use a PIN at checkout, but they have the option to use a signature instead. Walmart is hoping to make these transactions safer by standardizing PIN use, since it claims 91 percent of fraudulent debit card purchases are authorized with signatures.

Chip cards were developed as a safer alternative to standard magnetic strips. These cards are able to encrypt and authenticate data for each transaction, rather than simply recite your credit card number and expiration date to any machine.

Retailers were required in October to install chip-reading terminals into their stores, or face the threat of being liable for fraudulent transactions. Prior to the deadline, banks were on the hook for these charges.

Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove continued,

Visa has acknowledged in many other countries that chip-and-pin offer greater security. Visa nevertheless has demanded that we allow fraud-prone signature verification for debit transactions in our U.S. stores because Visa stands to make more money processing those transactions.

Visa has not released a statement yet addressing these allegations, but more information is likely to come out as the story develops.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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