Story highlights Courts have blocked Trump's travel ban on six Muslim countries

The new regulations allow embassies to create their own criteria

Washington (CNN) The Trump administration has approved intensified screening measures for visa applicants trying to reach the US, even as multiple federal courts have blocked its travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries.

The State Department released new guidance to embassies worldwide on Thursday -- the same day a federal appeals court upheld an indefinite freeze on President Donald Trump's travel ban, which sought to temporarily block people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US.

The new measures, approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget May 23, give consular officers broad discretion to apply stricter criteria to certain applicants, demanding more background material than required of typical applicants about their families, where they've lived and worked, and their social media use, among other things.

Administration lawyers told a federal court earlier this month that the White House has complied with a Hawaii-based judge's ruling that means it can't treat nationals from the selected countries differently. But the newly approved measures show the Trump administration has continued to seek ways to apply more rigorous screening to individuals who want to travel to the US.

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"Maintaining robust screening standards for visa applicants is a dynamic practice that must adapt to emerging threats," the State Department says in the cable to embassies that was viewed by CNN.

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