It’s hard to keep up with all the latest travel rules – from luggage limits and banned items to pet policies and visa restrictions. Now there’s a new one Aussies need to know: the United States (US) may soon require incoming visitors to hand over five years of their social media history to enter, under a new proposal from the Trump administration.
Currently, Aussies are permitted to stay in America for up to 90 days without a visa and following a pre-travel screening under the country’s Electronic System for Travel Authorisation. In 2024‑25, 746,220 Australians made the trip – down 25 per cent compared with ten years ago – and the new social media requirement could see those numbers fall even further.
Under the new proposal, the US Customs and Border Protection plans to make social media a mandatory part of the screening process for travellers from Australia and 41 other countries, including the UK, France and Japan. Visitors from these countries can still enter without a visa, but will need to provide their social media histories from the past five years, along with other "high-value data" including phone numbers from the last five years, email addresses from the past decade, personal details of family members and biometric information.
The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal before it’s finalised.