Youths falling prey to immigration frauds

Deepender Deswal

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Hisar, April 22

A family of Ritoli village in Jind district has accused four persons of duping them of Rs 50.75 lakh on the promise of sending two of their sons to Canada. Complainant Rani Devi alleged that she was cheated by four persons who promised to send her sons Vishal and Ashish to Canada last year, but the visa turned out to be fake, after which she lodged a police complaint.

Increase in passport applications

On an average, nearly 800 applications for passports are being processed at the Hisar centre. Most of the people from Hisar, Fatehabad and Bhiwani are submitting their applications. The applications for passports have gone up three times since Covid began. Praveen Kumarr, official

In another case, Kuldeep of Alewa in Kaithal district got an FIR registered against six persons, claiming that they cheated him of Rs 15 lakh on the pretext of sending his son to the US.

A similar incident took place in Fatehabad district where Abhishek of Fatehabad complained that two persons, Deepika and Sukhbir from Bhattu Kalan in Fatehabad district, arranged his work visa and sent him to Armenia on February 7. However, he later found out that it was a tourist visa and lodged an FIR against the duo.

The occurrence of visa fraud has been rising in Haryana. Mushrooming of travel agencies and the rising number of students in the coaching centres for IELTS reflect the new found trend among the youth who are aspiring for destinations like the UK, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Australia, US and Canada.

Details from the Hisar passport office revealed that the applications for passports have gone up nearly 300 per cent after the pandemic began. An official at the Passport Seva Kendra in Hisar informed that the waiting period for issuing a passport is three months as of now. In Hisar town, the number of youngsters visiting the IELTS training institutes has also gone up in the past one year.

Ashok Kadian, director of an English Speaking and IELTS training institute in the town’s PLA market, informed that at present there are 25 to 30 such centres operating in the town.