The United States (US) Embassy in India has announced a new rule for student visa applicants to prevent fraud and abuse of the appointment system. US consulates in India will implement the policy change across the country from November 27, 2023. As part of the new rule, all F, M and J student visa applicants have been asked to use their own passport information when creating a profile and scheduling their visa appointment. Applicants who have created a profile or booked an appointment using an incorrect passport number will not be accepted at the Visa Application Centers (VAC). Their appointments will be cancelled and the visa fee will be lost, it added. Any applicant who has created a profile or booked an appointment using an incorrect passport number should either create a new profile containing the correct passport information or access any existing profile which contains the correct passport information in order to book an appointment. This, however, would require the payment of a new visa fee receipt if the old receipt has been attached to a profile with incorrect passport information. For applicants, who have recently renewed their passport, or obtained a new passport after the old passport was lost or stolen, may bring a photocopy or other evidence of the old passport number and they will be allowed to proceed with their appointment, the US Embassy in India announced.
