NEW DELHI (Diya TV) — The U.S. Embassy in India has canceled nearly 2,000 visa appointments after detecting major fraud in its scheduling policy. The embassy found that these appointments were booked by unauthorized agents through automated bots, and all the associated accounts’ scheduling privileges were suspended immediately.
In a formal notice uploaded on X, the embassy declared, “Consular Team India found bad actors who booked approximately 2,000 visa appointments in contravention of our scheduling guidelines. As of now, we are canceling these appointments and suspending the involved accounts’ scheduling privileges.”
The embassy has a zero-tolerance approach to fraudulent activities during the visa application process. The utilization of automated bots by some agents has been a recurring problem, with reports showing that these middlemen extort applicants with fees in excess of $350 in order to obtain visa slots.
The crackdown on the embassy follows other moves aimed at promoting fairness and transparency in visa issuance. In February, Delhi Police had booked some visa and passport agents after the U.S. Embassy reported cases of visa scams committed with the help of fabricated documents.
To meet long-standing visa appointment backlog issues, the embassy introduced new scheduling rules effective January 1, 2025. These involve enabling applicants to reschedule an appointment once without being charged extra; further reschedules involve rescheduling a new appointment and paying the application fee again.
Applicants who have been impacted by the recent cancellations are urged to consult the official U.S. visa website for information on rescheduling. The embassy remains adamant in encouraging all applicants to schedule appointments directly from official sources and steer clear of intermediaries who offer expedited slots for a fee.
