- Sunday, March 30, 2025
The Embassy claimed that these visa appointments were made by bots and they have suspended the scheduling privileges of the associated accounts
By: India Weekly
THE US Embassy in India has that it had cancelled over 2,000 visa applications due to fraudulent activities and said it follows ‘zero tolerance’ policy for agents and fixers.
It cited major violations in the appointment scheduling system by “bad actors” and subsequently suspended the scheduling privileges of the associated accounts.
“Consular Team India is canceling about 2,000 visa appointments made by bots. We have zero tolerance for agents and fixers that violate our scheduling policies,” wrote the US Embassy in India on Twitter (now X) on Wednesday (26) while sharing an important notice.
The notice stated, “Consular Team India identified bad actors who made about 2,000 visa appointments that violated our scheduling policies. Effective immediately, we are canceling these appointments and suspending the associated accounts’ scheduling privileges.”
Earlier, based on a complaint by the US embassy, the Delhi police last week registered cases against more than 30 people operating from Punjab, Haryana, and other states for their alleged involvement in visa fraud rackets.
According to the FIR registered following the complaint on February 27, the fraudulent activities took place between May and August 2024, where the embassy highlighted 21 alleged instances of conspiracy between agents and applicants to cheat the US government.
This case comes at a time when the US government under president Donald Trump has been cracking down on visa fraud and unlawful immigration.
The US Embassy named 31 accused, including visa agents and applicants, who were allegedly involved in forging documents such as bank statements, educational certificates, and employment records to obtain US visas.
The embassy had compiled a comprehensive list of individuals linked to multiple IP addresses, suspected to be associated with visa consultants; document vendors (educational certificates, bank documents and employment certificates); passport delivery addresses; and education consultants.
During their investigation, the embassy found that several visa agents were arranging fake documents for the applicants.
