‘Unscrupulous’ agents provide short-term loans to U.S. visa applicants to convince Embassy officials

Enforcement Directorate uncovers visa fraud involving forged documents, cash payments, and fake certificates by agents in Punjab.

The Enforcement Directorate’s probe into the alleged involvement of agents in arranging United States visas for aspirants using forged documents and other unscrupulous means has revealed that some agents also provided huge sums of money to visa applicants on commission basis to help them convince the embassy officials that they could afford their stay in the U.S., said sources.

The agency has so far zeroed in on Red Leaf Immigration Private Limited, Overseas Partner Education Consultants, and Infowiz Software Solution by conducting searches on their premises in Chandigarh and Ludhiana (Punjab). The names of several others indulging in similar crimes are likely to surface during the course of investigations.

According to the ED findings, these three entities were operating independently and purportedly dealt with clients looking for work/study visas for mostly the U.S., apart from the United Kingdom and Canada. It alleges that Red Leaf Immigration coordinated among various conduits to facilitate visas for its clients. “We have found that Infowiz Software Solution was arranging forged documents, primarily birth certificates,” said an official.

The agency suspects that those running Overseas Partner Education Consultants also played a role in extending short-term loans to the interested visa applicants, against a small percentage of the amounts as commission, for them to show a minimum required bank balance for convincing the authorities that they had enough money to meet their expenses in the U.S.

“In such cases, educational/professional work experience certificates are also provided to the otherwise ineligible visa applicants, at commission rates that are fixed as per the level or type of educational qualification, percentage of marks, and duration of work experience required,” the official said.

The ED probe is based on the First Information Reports (FIRs) registered by the police in Delhi and Punjab on the complaints lodged by the U.S. Embassy. In September last year, the Punjab Police booked seven persons/entities, including Red Leaf Immigration and Overseas Partner Education Consultants, operating from Ludhiana and Chandigarh.

During the recent searches on the premises of suspects, the Directorate has seized digital devices and documents, besides ₹19 lakh in cash. Preliminary findings by the ED suggested that the money generated through the purported offence was used to acquire movable and immovable properties, besides being diverted to various bank accounts.