Washington (CNN) The State Department has begun requesting "most" US visa applicants provide information on their social media accounts, a department official said in a statement.

The move was expected following an announcement in March of last year that outlined plans to require nearly all US visa applicants to submit their social media handles and other information.

The State Department statement over the weekend said the forms for both immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants had been updated "to request additional information, including social media identifiers."

According to the official's statement, the move is a result of a memorandum issued by President Donald Trump in 2017 on "vetting" for people coming to the US and a provision of an executive order from around the same time that sought to block entry to the US for people from several majority-Muslim countries, which included a provision on vetting standards.

CNN previously reported that the change was expected to affect around 15 million people.

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