Why the US Embassy in India is canceling 2,000 visa appointments. You all need to know. Today news

The US embassy in India canceled over 2,000 visa appointments on fraud activities, saying on Wednesday. The embassy stated that appointments were made by “bots” or “bad actors”, which “violates their scheduling policies”.

The US embassy wrote in a post on X, “Consular Team is canceling around 2,000 visa appointments made by India Bots. We have zero tolerance for agents and fixers that violate our scheduling policies.”

“Immediately effective, we are canceling these appointments and suspending scheduling privileges of the respective accounts,” he said.

The post said, “We will continue our anti -fraud efforts. We have zero tolerance for fraud.”

FIR against fake visa and passport agents

A week ago, the Delhi Police Crime Branch lodged an FIR against several visas and passport agents working mainly from Punjab and Haryana after a complaint of the US Embassy, ​​according to an official statement. The case was filed on 27 February.

In the complaint, a representative of the US embassy in New Delhi highlighted fraud activities by visa agents.

The complaint stated that these agents, both known and unknown, were involved in presenting false information in American visa applications and providing fake documents to the applicants. The agents allegedly tried to cheat the US Embassy and the US government to get a visa through fraud to the US government.

The complaint further stated, “During the period from May to August 2024, our office conducted relevant investigations and compiled a comprehensive list of persons associated with several IP addresses, which are suspected to be associated with visa advisors, document vendors (educational certificates, bank documents and employment certificates), passport delivery addresses and education consultants.”

According to the statement, the US embassy has named over 30 visas and passport agents, as well as passengers, who allegedly tried to get a US visa using fake documents. Specific cases were also revealed where the applicants had submitted fraud papers.

H1-B visa backlog

Employers and representatives should use an online account of an American citizenship and immigration services (USCIS) for H -1B visa registration. Preliminary registration for H -1B visa cap for the financial year 2026 was recently closed on 24 March.

The H-B1 and H-B2 visas, which are for tourist and business, have seen important backlogs in recent years. The waiting time was from 800–1,000 working days in 2022-23.

In 2022, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed concern about a visa delay with US State Secretary Antony Blinkan, who blamed the backlog for Kovid -19 epidemic.

US visa regressive

On March 11, the US State Department released the April 2025 visa bulletin, which announced a significant update employment-based (EB) for immigrant visa categories. According to the bulletin, India will face a regressive of more than two years in the EB -5 unreserved category.

The visa is retrograde when the US State Department increases priority dates that determines visa availability rather than in visa bulletin, later the green card causes delays for applicants.

Originally, the visa regressive means that applicants will have to wait longer to apply for a green card. While it is only temporary, it greatly increases waiting time for applicants.