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The United States Embassy located in India has revoked more than 2,000 visa applications due to fraudulent activities. On Wednesday, the embassy announced that it uncovered significant breaches in the appointment system caused by "bad actors" or automated bots, leading to the suspension of their accounts. In a post on X, the embassy stated, "Our Consular Team India is cancelling nearly 2,000 visa appointments created by bots. We maintain a strict policy against agents and middlemen who breach our scheduling regulations." They further elaborated, "Effective immediately, we are nullifying these appointments and revoking the scheduling permissions of the related accounts." Visas B1 and B2, which are allocated for business and tourism purposes, have experienced considerable backlogs recently. During 2022-23, applicants had to wait between 800 to 1,000 days, prompting the United States to offer visa appointments to Indian citizens in Frankfurt and Bangkok.
In 2022, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar expressed his worries regarding visa delays to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who attributed the delays to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr. Jaishankar reiterated these concerns in January to the Biden administration. Following his meeting with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, where immigration topics were on the agenda, Mr. Jaishankar remarked, "A waiting period of roughly 400 days for a visa doesn't serve our relationship well. Senator Rubio also highlighted this issue."
In addition to the complications surrounding business and tourism visas, there has also been a notable rise in denials for student visas. For the fiscal year 2023-24, spanning October 2023 to September 2024, the U.S. received 679,000 applications for F-1 student visas, yet rejected 279,000, resulting in a 41 percent denial rate. This marks a significant increase from the previous year, where 36 percent of 699,000 applications were turned down.
Back in 2014, the rejection rate stood at 15 percent, which has now nearly tripled. Furthermore, the overall number of approved visas has declined, adversely affecting both universities and international students. Although rejection rates specific to each country are not officially available, reports indicate that Indian students experienced a 38 percent decrease in the issuance of student visas in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same timeframe in 2023.
