At least 21 students were deported from the United States in one day for attempting to enter the country with fake visas and counterfeit university admission letters. The deportees’ have also been banned from reentering the country for a period of five years. This has not only brought disgrace to the students but has also cast a shadow of embarrassment upon India on the global stage. According to the details, they all had valid F1 visas to study. In an official statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement they “did not seem to know” the name of the university they were enrolled in. According to media reports, the deportation took place at multiple US airports, including Atlanta, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Most of the individuals sent back to India hailed from the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They were put on Delta’s codeshare flight back to Delhi, but held at the airport there because U.S. immigration had failed to give the students their deportation papers. Reportedly, students asked to contact their parents but were denied because they weren’t minors. In recent years, the United States and Canada have seen a notable increase in the number of Indian students attempting to enter on “fraudulent documentation”. In 2018, 129 Indian students were deported from the United States due to visa fraud, a number that increased to 150 in 2019. Meanwhile, Canada, which has been a popular destination for Indian students, deported 700 Indian students in 2022 and 2023 who had attempted to gain entry with fake admission letters.

 Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)