US Visa Information for Indian Nationals
We have noticed that in recent months, there has been a high incidence of Employment/Job Offers in the USA, targeted to people specifically living in India. These jobs have come from a variety of sources, but are usually traced or linked to a company based in the United States of America, that are IT (information technology) consultants, contractors or simply a specialist employment agency These companies have clearly stated that they will "assist" or even outright claimed that they will "obtain" the necessary working permit visas (H1x) on behalf of the proposed employee.
Unfortunately, a lot of these claims are, to be truthful, quite bogus, and may be worded in such a way as to give both false hope and misinformation to the victim.
On May 9th 2007,
Geoffrey Pyatt, who is the Charge d'Affaires, U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, issued the following statement (it may be seen on the
New Delhi US Embassy website) on Increased Demand for U.S. Visas by Unqualified Applicants:
Quote:
The U.S. Mission to India is alarmed by a rush of clearly unqualified visa applicants in recent weeks, creating a scarcity of visa appointments in New Delhi and Mumbai for legitimate Indian travelers during the busy summer travel season.
America is an open society, proud to welcome visitors from all over the world. However, in light of this rush and the wake of reports on human smuggling to the United States and other countries, the U.S. Mission to India is increasing its vigilance to eliminate illegal smuggling and visa fraud - people intending to illegally migrate to the United States.
There are individuals and companies who are taking advantage of Indian citizens by suggesting they can provide a short cut to an American visa. These people are deceiving innocent people into wasting their money and making it harder for legitimate travelers to obtain visa appointments.
We especially want to tell everyone in India that no firm or person can help you obtain a U.S. visa. The only way to obtain a U.S. visa is to present legitimate documents. The U.S. cooperates with the Government of India on the arrest of people with false documents and those who seek to gain U.S. visas fraudulently.
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Now, as stated, many of these "employers" claim that they can complete the process required for the applicant/employee, and all they need to do is to supply the necessary fees. This is not true, as all applicants for a non-immigrant visa (NIV) MUST attend a personal interview at the U.S. embassy or consulate. The following rules (as can be seen on
this page) are strictly observed:
Quote:
Rules for Interested Parties
Due to security concerns and space limitations, U.S. consular sections do not permit interested parties such as friends, relatives, attorneys, or business contacts to attend the visa interview of a nonimmigrant visa applicant or intervene on their behalf during the interview.
If an interested party wishes to provide information to a specific consular section concerning a particular visa applicant, they are encouraged to supply this information directly to the applicant. The applicant can then bring this information to their visa interview.
It is not advisable for an interested party to send letters to the Consular Section in anticipation of a visa application. Due to the high volume of applicants we may be unable to provide these letters to the Consular Officer who will interview the applicant.
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If anyone living in India has received such an offer for working in the US, and have received information within emails or by postal mail about which they are unsure, they can always contact the Visa Fraud departments of the US Embassy. The contact details can be found at this page:
http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/consular_services_contact.html
and specifically within the
Visa Fraud section on that page.
You may also find this website very useful:
http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/
OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD
For a listing and more information for Visa Processing and Application requirements, please see this website:
http://usembassy.state.gov/
Finally, please read this page about
Website Frauds:
Website Fraud Warning
and this official page regarding the
Diversity Visa Lottery (otherwise known as the "
Green Card Lottery")
Diversity Visa Lottery
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