False visa papers
Hyderabadis send the highest number of false documents while applying for US visas, according to Peter G. Kaestner, minister-counselor for consular affairs and consul-general of the US embassy. This continues despite a series of initiatives over the past few years with the State government to authenticate documents especially from universities. “It is unfortunate that cases of false documentation in Hyderabad is a real problem. Though we don’t keep track of the number of cases, I can say the highest number in India are from Hyderabad,” he said. Explaining why the US wants to set up a consulate in the city despite the fake documents, Mr Kaestner said of the four lakh temporary visas issued in India last year, about 20 per cent were from Andhra Pradesh. The visa demand from Hyderabad is expected to go up to between 1.25 lakh and 1.40 lakh in 2008 when the US consulate starts operations here. The consulate will have 15 visa windows against nine in Delhi and 16 in Chennai. Mr Kaestner was ...