(UNITED STATES) — The U.S. government expanded the personal information it can collect and share for some travelers and immigrants coming from Canada, tying the changes to the Department of Homeland Security’s “Making America Safe Again” initiative under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
The shift centers on broader cross-border data exchange under the Canada-U.S. Visa and Immigration Information-Sharing Agreement and new U.S. proposals that would require deeper disclosures in certain travel authorization processes.
Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller described the information-sharing expansion as “mission critical,” saying, “By granting this extension, both countries are better equipped to screen applicants and make informed migration decisions and also prevent fraud culture” (January 15, 2025/2026).
DHS has framed the expansion as part of a tougher screening posture that can touch multiple U.S. agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, alongside visa processes linked to the State Department.
The practical result for affected people, based on the changes and proposals already described by DHS, CBP and USCIS, is more cross-checking across applications and encounters, and more detailed questions for some categories of non-citizens.
Scope of the Information-Sharing Expansion
At the core is the Canada-U.S. Visa and Immigration Information-Sharing Agreement, which already existed as a cross-border arrangement and now reaches further into long-term residency populations.
Regulatory changes that came into force in mid-January enable automated exchange of biographical and biometric information for permanent residents of both countries, expanding a 2012 pact that previously only applied to non-resident foreign nationals.
The agreement’s information-sharing scope covers fingerprints, photographs, and biographical identifiers such as name and date of birth to “verify clients’ identities and strengthen admissibility screening.”
That sort of exchange can matter well beyond a single trip because immigration and benefits adjudications often turn on identity resolution, prior refusals, and consistency across filings.
Proposed Social Media and Expanded Data Collection
A separate development arrived in December 2025, when a notice published in the Federal Register by CBP and DHS proposed making social media history a “mandatory data element” for certain travel authorizations.
CBP’s estimate of the added burden was specific: providing the new “high-value data fields” would add at least 22 minutes to travel applications.
The U.S. proposal sought five years of social media history, 10 years of email addresses, and extensive family details, including names, birth dates, and addresses of parents, siblings, and children.
The notice did not apply evenly across all Canada-linked travelers because Canadian citizens traveling on Canadian passports remain exempt from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, but Canadian permanent residents and other foreign nationals living in Canada who must apply for U.S. visas or ESTA would face the new collection if it becomes enforceable.
What Is in Effect Now Versus Proposals
For travelers and applicants, the distinction between an announcement, a proposal, and an effective change determines what they must do now versus what they may need to prepare for later.
The information-sharing expansion already ties to mid-January regulatory changes, while the social media and family disclosure requirement appeared as a Federal Register proposal in December 2025, which signals a process rather than an immediate universal requirement.
People trying to stay compliant face a moving set of dates and definitions, including what qualifies as “mandatory data element” collection and what systems capture it.
Applicants who encounter new questions in government portals or forms generally risk delays if they provide incomplete answers, and they also risk deeper scrutiny if later filings conflict with earlier disclosures.
Practical Impacts on Travelers and Residents
Even basic mismatches—name formats, date-of-birth errors, or omissions of prior refusals—can trigger requests for clarification once data sets are easier to compare.
DHS also tied data and identity controls to enforcement posture in April 2025, when Noem announced full enforcement of registration obligations under Section 262 of the INA.
DHS said all foreign nationals over 18, including Canadian nationals staying in the U.S. for 30 days or longer, must carry evidence of their registration, such as a printed Form I-94.
That requirement can change day-to-day travel behavior, particularly for frequent crossers and longer-stay visitors who may not have historically carried printed admission records.
DHS warned that failure to comply can result in criminal penalties or fines, making documentation readiness a practical issue that can surface during routine stops, airport processing, or questioning at land borders.
Canadian “snowbirds” and other long-term visitors fall into the group most likely to feel those checks in ordinary life because they can spend extended time in the United States and may be asked to prove admission and status.
Stricter compliance checks can also compound problems for people whose travel history includes inconsistent entries, unresolved status questions, prior refusals, or overstays, because cross-border data exchange can make those issues easier for officers to spot.
Operational Enforcement and Verification Efforts
Operationally, DHS and USCIS signaled another layer of intensified scrutiny through “intensive verification” efforts.
On January 9, 2026, DHS and USCIS launched Operation PARRIS in Minnesota and other northern regions to reexamine thousands of refugee and immigrant cases through “intensive verification” and new background checks.
USCIS also issued new guidance on November 27, 2025, allowing “negative, country-specific factors” to be considered when vetting individuals from 19 high-risk countries, including people who may reside in Canada and seek U.S. entry.
While that guidance did not redefine visa categories in the material described, it described a screening lens that can influence how aggressively cases get reviewed.
The cumulative effect is that the same applicant may face more cross-matching of personal identifiers, more follow-up questions, and a higher chance of referral for additional review.
Shared biometric profiles can be used to resolve identity and detect duplicate identities or prior encounters, and shared biographic data can tighten consistency checks across separate applications.
Specific Exposure for Canadian Permanent Residents
For Canadian permanent residents, the information-sharing expansion adds a specific new exposure: immigrants holding Canadian PR status now have their biometric profiles automatically accessible to U.S. authorities when they apply for any U.S. immigration benefit or visa.
That means the screening picture for a benefits filing can include more data pulled from cross-border systems rather than relying only on what an applicant submits in one transaction.
Even where Canadian citizens are exempt from ESTA when traveling on Canadian passports, mixed-status families and households can face different obligations.
A Canadian citizen may pass through processes that a spouse or adult child—if they are a Canadian permanent resident or another foreign national living in Canada—must complete with broader disclosures, including potentially the proposed social media and email history requirements.
Privacy and Policy Concerns
Privacy concerns have tracked the same expansion, especially around durable identifiers like biometrics.
Legal experts, including the Canadian Bar Association, warned about a “slippery slope” of sharing sensitive biometric data without clear public transparency on how AI and other tools will use this information.
U.S. officials have tied the posture to security threats at the northern border. Noem and other U.S. officials cited a “northern border crisis” as the primary driver, claiming transnational gangs and unvetted individuals are attempting to exploit the U.S.-Canada border.
Practical Advice for Managing Risk
For individuals trying to manage risk and avoid delays, the most practical step is careful accuracy and consistency across all filings and encounters, including older visa applications and travel authorizations that might be pulled into comparison later.
More questions can also mean longer completion times, because applicants may need to reconstruct years of email address history, enumerate family relationships with dates and addresses, and ensure the answers align with earlier records.
Border and airport processing can also feel different once officers expect more evidence on the spot. Carrying a printed Form I-94 for those subject to the 30-day rule, and being prepared to answer questions consistent with prior entries and applications, can reduce the chance that an officer flags basic discrepancies for further review.
Travelers and residents can also expect variability by port of entry, officer discretion, and individual travel history. Some people may see little change, while others may face more questions or secondary inspection if data checks raise identity or timeline issues, or if new vetting initiatives flag categories of cases for deeper review.
Where to Find Official Updates
Those trying to confirm what is in effect, what is proposed, and what is merely under discussion face a documentation challenge because the relevant materials can appear across several agencies and publication channels.
USCIS typically posts immigration benefits and vetting updates through its newsroom, while CBP and DHS use the Federal Register process to propose and finalize collection changes tied to travel authorizations.
Readers looking for official updates can start with the USCIS newsroom page at USCIS Newsroom, which highlights agency announcements including January 2026 items referenced in the policy context.
The Canadian government also published a notice describing the regulatory amendments related to information sharing at DHS Information Sharing Agreement Notice.
For the December 2025 proposal on ESTA-related collection, the Federal Register remains the publication channel described for the notice, and readers can use Federal Register to search for “CBP ESTA Social Media Mandatory.”
People following broader bilateral positioning can also consult the State Department’s background material at State Department Relations with Canada, while recognizing that operational screening and data collection details often appear first in DHS, CBP, USCIS and Federal Register notices.
Summary and Outlook
With the Canada-U.S. Visa and Immigration Information-Sharing Agreement now expanded and DHS pushing Expanded Data Sharing alongside stepped-up registration enforcement, travelers and long-term residents moving between the two countries face a more data-driven system.
In that system, what they disclosed years earlier can matter the next time they apply or cross, increasing the importance of accuracy, documentation readiness, and consistency across prior and current records.
