Visa fraud: U.S. embassy cancels 2,000 bot-booked appointments

U.S. Embassy in India cancels 2,000 visa appointments made by bots, vows zero tolerance for policy violators.

The U.S. Embassy in India on Wednesday (March 27, 2025) said it has cancelled around 2,000 visa appointments made by bots.

In a post on X, the embassy said the government has zero tolerance for agents and fixers that violate the policies. “We have zero tolerance for agents and fixers that violate our scheduling policies,” the embassy’s statement on X said.

The embassy said it would be suspending the associated accounts’ scheduling privileges as well. “Consular Team India is cancelling about 2,000 visa appointments made by bots. We have zero tolerance for agents and fixers who violate our scheduling policies. Effective immediately, we are cancelling these appointments and suspending the associated accounts’ scheduling privileges,” the post read.

The embassy also further said it will continue the anti-fraud efforts. “We have zero tolerance for fraud,” the post said.

There have been previous cases of other visa-related frauds which have been investigated by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in India. The ED’s probe into the alleged involvement of agents in arranging U.S. visas for aspirants using forged documents and other unscrupulous means has revealed that some agents also provided huge sums of money to visa applicants on commission basis to help them convince the embassy officials that they could afford their stay in the country.