Washington

TheState Department said fraudsters were using sham staffing firms, forged documents and fake student records to cheat the US visa system, detailing cases from several countries as the Trump administration widens its scrutiny of work and study visas used heavily by Indians.

"Fraudsters use sham staffing firms, forged documents, and fake student records to try to cheat the U.S. visa system," the department said in a thread on its official X account.

"Under President Trump and @SecRubio, the State Department is exposing these schemes, revoking fraudulent visas, and protecting our country from exploitation," it said.

In the first case, the department said petitioners in an unnamed Caribbean country "posed as 'staffing companies' and used unregistered agents to recruit foreign workers, charging thousands of dollars in illegal fees."

They placed workers in unauthorised jobs under exploitative conditions through falsified labour contracts, pushing up overstay rates by more than four times, the department said. It said the US Embassy flagged dozens of petitions covering hundreds of workers and helped launch criminal investigations.

A second case involved study and exchange programmes. "A recruiting agency ran a scheme to push unqualified applicants into U.S. exchange programs, using fake academic transcripts and lies about student status," the department said. Consular Affairs tightened vetting and identified 30 more fraudulent agencies, leading to 250 visa refusals, according to the thread.

The department also cited immigrant visa applicants in an unnamed South American country who used fraudulent police, judicial and penal certificates to hide criminal histories. It said the embassy there moved to fully digital verification, and that a joint investigation with local police led to dozens of refusals and more than 15 arrests.