NEW DELHI: The United States is cracking down on “bots” blocking substantial visa interview appointment dates in India, leaving many applicants with no option but to pay agents about Rs 30,000-35,000 per person to get the same in time for their proposed visit.
The US embassy in India said on Wednesday on X: “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 (sic).”
“We will continue our anti-fraud efforts. We have zero tolerance for frauds,” the post added. It is an open secret in travel industry that while there’s a long wait for appointment dates for US visas — business & visitor B1/B2 & student — paying an agent magically secures a slot within a month or so.
“We tried to get a visa interview date on our own for our child who had to join an American university last fall but nothing was available in the timeframe to do so. We paid an agent Rs 30,000 and got the same in time,” a person said on condition of anonymity. Similarly, the wait for a B1/B2 is over six months but paying Rs 30-35,000 could mean getting one within a month or so.
Sources say agents use bots to block appointment dates due to which no near-term availability is visible when applicants want to book one on their own. When the wait for B1/B2 appointments was near the 999-day mark in 2023, the US had to open appointments for Indian applicants at its consulates in Frankfurt and Bangkok, among other places.
India had also taken up the issue of long visa wait times with the US 2-3 years ago. The US took a series of steps to cut waiting times. Now, with US cracking down on bots, the situation might improve further.
