A lot of lawyers tell their clients to be careful with what they post on social media. One wrong move can ruin their case and eliminate their chances of getting a favorable outcome. The immigration process is unexempted.
Social media can damage an immigration case and cause an applicant to be rejected by immigration.
Does Immigration Watch Their Applicants on Social Media?
A lot of people don’t realize it, but their social media accounts say a lot about them. Because of this, immigration turns to social media to check out their applicants. From Facebook and Instagram to Twitter and other websites, what a person posts and interacts with online can make or break their immigration case.
It’s important that applicants be wary of their social media presence and give a second thought to any materials that could potentially damage their case.
Common Scenarios of How Social Media Affects an Immigration Case
The most common scenario happens when a person applies for a visitor’s visa to visit the United States for a limited time. To get approved for a visitor’s visa, an applicant must show no intention of staying in the U.S. after the expiration of their visa or moving in the country permanently.
If they mistakenly post on social media about living or moving to the U.S., immigration will very likely reject their immigration case and refuse to issue a visitor’s visa. This is because, through social media, they’ve revealed that they have the intention of staying in the United States for good.
Another scenario is with married couples that are applying for a marriage-based green card for one of the spouses. Throughout the process of obtaining a green card, one spouse may start seeing another person and posting their photos on social media.
In the eyes of immigration, this act can portray that the marriage was entered into in bad faith, i.e. for the sole purpose of getting a green card, or that the marriage is no longer existing. This harms the applicant’s chances of getting approved for a marriage-based green card and damages their case beyond repair.
How to Protect Your Immigration Case
In relation to social media, the best thing that a person can do is to be very careful about what they say and post online. The slightest thing can create a big dent in an immigration case. If there are posts from the past that could potentially damage an immigration case, it’s important to speak to a lawyer to make sure that it doesn’t cause any problems.