Is Your Facebook Account Hurting Your Application for a Green Card?

The New York Times recently ran an article  titled “Facebook is Using You” by Lori Andrews.  In the article it said that “material mined online has been used against people battling for child custody or defending themselves in criminal cases.

LexisNexis has a product called Accurint for Law Enforcement, which gives government agents information about what people do on social networks.  The Internal Revenue Service searches Facebook and MySpace for evidence of tax evaders’ income and whereabouts, and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has been known to scrutinize photos and posts to confirm family relationships or weed out sham marriages….” (emphasis mine)

Review Your Social Media

If you are applying for a green card or if you are filing any immigration case you may wish to review your social media accounts to make sure that everything is in order.   The last thing you want is for your facebook account to give the appearance that your petition or your application is false in any way.

Your social media (all of it) should reflect that you love your spouse and that your spouse is a huge part of your life.  If a USCIS officer scrolls through your social media and you are not mentioning your spouse at all how do you think that would appear to the officer?

It should be absolutely clear to anyone looking at your social media that you are in a loving relationship with your spouse.

Avoid Politics on social media

In addition, you should avoid taking major political stances on social media.  You may have an officer who is diametrically opposed to you politically and you could  hurt your chances of approval with an inflammatory post.

The information provided on this site is not legal advice but general information only. Laws do change and additional laws may apply in your case. Every Immigration case is different. Please contact our office or the office of another immigration attorney to review your matter prior to filing any documentation with USCIS.