The United States (U.S.) Embassy in India Wednesday expressed alarm over the recent rush in visa applications in India to gain fraudulent entry into the U.S., resulting in inordinate delays in the processing time for genuine candidates, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported.

According to IANS, the U.S. diplomats said some 50 arrests have been made in this connection in NEW DELHI alone.

In New Delhi alone, the rate of refusal has jumped 60 percent in recent weeks, IANS quoted U.S. officials as saying.

The U.S. mission to India is increasing its vigilance to eliminate illegal smuggling and visa fraud.

Almost 250,000 U.S. dollars was spent by people whose visa applications had been turned down, IANS quoted Minister Counsellor Peter G. Kaestner as saying.

He said the missions received 63,000 applications with an average visa fee of 100 dollars in April.

Source: Xinhua