South Korean students hire ‘digital undertakers’ amid US visa scrutiny

South Koreans looking to study in the United States are turning to “digital undertakers” to scrub their online footprint clean before applying for visas, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to significantly tighten its social media vetting.

Last Friday, the US Embassy in Seoul said it would resume receiving visa applications for students and those on exchange programmes – but applicants would have to give it access to their social media accounts.

“All applicants for F, M or J nonimmigrant visas are required to set their social media posts to ‘public’ visibility,” the embassy’s own social media post read.

For a 28-year-old student who wanted to be known only by her surname, Kim, this requirement comes on top of the already “daunting task” of working towards her doctoral degree in the US.

After spending 1½ years preparing to apply to a US graduate school, “I felt like I was ready this year and was going to apply”, she told The Korea Herald newspaper. “But knowing that my social media accounts and the stuff I posted in the past could be an obstacle to me studying in the States and not something like my school grades is really stressful to me.”