Students are encouraged to research for US visa application with the US government body EducationUSA
Do not lie during visa interview. Do not give fake documents. Do listen carefully to the
visa interview officer. These are some pointers the US embassy in India has given to students who are preparing to apply for a visa.
Anyone who turns up with fake papers will be banned from entering the US for life, the American embassy has said.
"A lot of students approach bogus visa agents in order to help them to obtain visas. We caution the students to use the right sources with EducationUSA, where they can conduct research with all programmes and courses they want to apply in US universities and make sure that they make the best of their future goals," Elizabeth Lawrence, fraud prevention manager at the US Embassy, said during an open house for students.
EducationUSA is a US government body present in 170 countries that gives information about American educational institutes to foreign students.
"We also request individuals to not to lie during a visa interview. We do not have a set of rules of what documents to bring during the interview," Ms Lawrence said.
"However, if an individual wishes to bring their own documents such as educational certificates, bank accounts... it should be 100 per cent real and not counterfeit. However, fraud cases are very negligible," she said.
One out of six international students in the US are from India, consul general at the US embassy George Hogeman said. June 6 will be observed as "Student Visa Day" at all US missions in India, he said.
"A lot of applicants, including some students, come with a prepared speech. The best advice for anyone applying for a visa is to listen carefully to what the officer asks during the interview and answer that question. We then base our visa decisions on the interview," Mr Hogeman said.
On March 30, the US government said it was proposing to
collect social media identities from nearly everyone who seeks entry into the country. The proposal, if approved by the office of management and budget, would require most immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants to list all social media identities they have used in the past five years.
The information will be used to vet and identify them, according to the proposals, which would affect about 14.7 million people annually.
The proposals on taking social media information of applicants support US President Donald Trump's promise to institute "extreme vetting" of foreigners entering the US to prevent terrorism.