India to start social media verification before issuing visas

The Indian government will check the social media accounts of Bangladeshi citizens before issuing visas. Like the US policy, the applicant's social media activities for at least the last five years will be verified. However, this process is mainly applicable to those aged 18 to 60; minors and senior citizens will be exempted.

A top official of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said that it is necessary to deny visas to those who are publicly making anti-India comments and posts in the interest of the country for security reasons. Earlier, this was applied only in a few isolated cases, but now it will be implemented as a rule.

Gradually, the number of general visas is increasing through five visa application centers located in Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Chattogram. Social media verification was already in place for special medical, educational or emergency visas.

A former Indian ambassador to Dhaka welcomed the move. He said, there is now an easy tool to identify those who regularly criticize India while sitting in Bangladesh; hence this system is needed.

Indian officials said the process has begun in stages and technology and manpower are being increased, but no direct official announcement has been made yet.