U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu Warns of Visa Scams

December 19, 2005                                                   

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu advises the public to be cautious in all dealings with individuals or companies that claim to offer assistance in obtaining U.S. visas, and strongly warns against presenting fraudulent documents in support of a visa application.  The use of fraudulent documents can cause a person to become permanently ineligible for travel to the United States, and the Embassy can and does turn applicants presenting false documents over to the Nepal Police. 

There is no need to work through a third-party or a “visa consultant” when applying for a U.S. visa.  While some of these organizations may provide legitimate immigration and visa-related information and services, many seek to mislead customers into paying for services they will not receive or do not need.  These “visa scams” often promise successful visa applications, winning diversity lottery entries, or documents they say will ensure visa issuance.  They may claim special knowledge of or access to U.S. consular processes.  Visa scam artists contact prospective targets via websites, e-mail contact and in person.

The U.S. Department of State does not endorse, recommend or sponsor any information or material shown on non-governmental websites (using the suffixes ".com," ".org" or ".net") that provide immigration- and visa-related information and services.  These websites may ask for payment for services, forms, and information about immigration procedures which are otherwise free on the U.S. Embassy website.

The Embassy issues visas every day to qualified applicants.  “Visa consultants” often take advantage of this fact by promising visas to qualified applicants who would have obtained visas on their own.  In some cases, these perpetrators defraud people of their money, never to be seen again.  In other cases, they offer to sell illegitimate documents or services.

The Embassy decided to issue this warning after determining in recent weeks that numerous applicants have paid for unnecessary services to apply for U.S. visas, and after receiving increasing numbers of fraudulent documents as part of visa applications.

The Embassy hopes that members of the public will remain alert to visa “scams” and asks that anyone learning of such fraudulent activity contact the Embassy immediately.  Your identity will remain confidential.  Official U.S. Government information on visas is available on the Embassy's website http://nepal.usembassy.gov/ and at http://www.travel.state.gov.

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