[ad_1]
The US issued a file 140,000 scholar visas to Indians within the 2023 fiscal yr (October 2022 to September 2023), however a black market has emerged in recent times as a result of excessive demand for appointments.
The US embassy in India has introduced anybody making use of for an F, M, or J scholar visa should use their passport info when scheduling their visa appointment.
Going ahead, if a reserving has been made with an incorrect passport quantity, the appointment shall be cancelled and the visa charge misplaced.
The PIE Information reported in March on a rising pattern of scalpers monitoring appointment slots and reserving them on behalf of scholars or promoting them on for a charge, making it troublesome for non-paying college students to safe appointments.
The embassy mentioned it had launched the brand new measures to “stop fraud and abuse of the appointment system”.
It’s unclear whether or not this shall be sufficient to fully deter scalpers, who typically accumulate scholar info earlier than reserving slots on their behalf.
Naveen Yathapu, director of i20fever schooling company, mentioned the transfer sends a “clear message” that the consulate is making an attempt to “clear up” its techniques.
Yathapu mentioned he believed that the majority college students making use of for F-1 visas would not really feel the necessity to undergo scalpers, notably as extra appointments are being made obtainable.
It comes as American ambassador to India Eric Garcetti introduced in November that the US plans to recruit extra workers and open an extra consulate to help extra visa processing.
“We’re growing the workers energy within the metropolis”
Chatting with native press, Garcetti confirmed he had been taking a look at premises in Ahmedabad.
“Some extra folks have already joined the Hyderabad consulate as we’re growing the workers energy within the metropolis and premises are being taken up in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad for organising new consulates,” he reportedly mentioned.
In complete, the State Division issued greater than 600,000 scholar visas globally within the 2023 fiscal yr, the best quantity since 2017.
In response to knowledge launched earlier this yr, Indians now signify over 10% of all US visa candidates worldwide, together with 20% of all scholar visa candidates.
[ad_2]