In an effort to stop fraud and misuse of the appointment system, the US Embassy in India has published a new regulation for those applying for student visas. The new policy will be enacted nationwide by US consulates in India on November 27, 2023.
As part of the new rule, all F, M and J student visa applicants have been required to utilise their own passport information while creating a profile and arranging their visa appointment.
At the Visa Application Centres (VAC), applicants who have made a profile or scheduled an appointment with an inaccurate passport number will not be accepted. It further stated that their appointments will be cancelled and the visa fee would be forfeited.
In order to schedule an appointment, any applicant who has made a profile or scheduled a meeting with an inaccurate passport number should either access any existing profiles that have the proper passport information or create a new profile with the correct passport information.
However, if the previous receipt was linked to a profile with false passport information, this would necessitate the payment of a new receipt for the visa fee.
The US Embassy in India said that applicants who recently renewed their passport or got a new one after their old one was lost or stolen might bring a photocopy or other proof of their previous passport number and still be able to go to their appointment.