New Delhi: A major overseas job racket has surfaced. Documents available with CNN-IBN show how fake mercantile institutes are duping hundreds of students. Agents and companies send students abroad on fake visas and there they are forced to work as labourers.
Glossy ads, a salary in dollars and an exciting life in the blue sea is what Bappi Sarkar had imagined his life would be. His parents had sold their house to pay the hefty fees at a mercantile institute. But when Bappi reached Malaysia with a contract letter, he was shocked to find out the promised ship never existed.
"My course of three months was finished in 12 days. I had no knowledge. I've never even seen the ship for which I got the visa. I was forced to work as a labour in a wood factory, where we worked," Bappi said.
Diljit from Punjab and Parth from Delhi also claim they were duped of lakhs of rupees by agents. "My agent made me work on a cafe instead of the promised ship," Diljit said....
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09:05 AM, Jun 14, 2013
Washington: A professional US body of engineers has asked the Senators to reject any move to increase the number of H-1B visas, popular among Indian professionals, arguing that it has a damaging effect on American economy. In a statement issued on Monday, IEEE-USA - the largest American body of professional engineers asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject amendments to the comprehensive immigration bill that would increase H-1B temporary visa...
02:54 PM, May 14, 2013
Washington: Amidst Congressional debate on the comprehensive immigration reform, a top US Senator has accused big Indian IT companies - TCS, Infosys and Wipro - of abusing the H-1B visa system. "There are some specific abuses of H-1B," Senator Richard Durbin, said during a Congressional hearing on immigration reform by the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, during which the lawmakers discussed threadbare the H-1B visa issues. In fact, Senator...
01:32 PM, Apr 23, 2013
New Delhi: A day after CNN-IBN highlighted the plight of 400 Pakistani Hindus seeking asylum in New Delhi, there may be some immediate relief in store it seems. Their visas have now been extended for a month by the Indian government. Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs have indicated to CNN-IBN that the fresh batch of Pakistani Hindus in India will not be deported even though their visas have...
07:09 PM, Apr 10, 2013
The much sought H-1B visas could be decided through lottery in 2013, industry experts and officials feel, based on initial feedback from companies, as the US starts accepting applications from Monday. ...
12:53 PM, Mar 31, 2013
Facing a shortage of labourers, Sri Lanka plans to grant work visas to Indians to harvest paddy in the country's north and east, a media report said on Sunday. "The government is helpless as our people are leaving the country to work as labourers in West Asia, Singapore, South Korea and Italy," Lankan Agricultural Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times. ...
04:46 PM, Feb 24, 2013
A Hindu leader from India, who had established a temple in Milwaukee city of the US state of Wisconsin, has been jailed for 37 months for religious visa fraud and would be deported to his native country after serving his sentence. A Milwaukee court gave its sentencing order after it found Sagarsen Haldar, aka Gopal Hari Das, who is the founder, president, CEO and spiritual leader of Gaudiya Vaisnava Society...
11:26 AM, Jan 25, 2013
New Delhi: A total of 9,412 visas on arrival (VoAs) were issued till August compared to 7,514 during corresponding period of 2011, registering a growth of 25.3 per cent, an official said on Tuesday. According to the tourism ministry, 1,750 VoAs were issued in August compared to 920 during August 2011, registering a growth of 90.2 per cent. As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, the...
02:37 PM, Sep 11, 2012
Islamabad: India and Pakistan signed the much-awaited liberalised visa agreement on Saturday, introducing for the first time group tourist and pilgrim visas, separate visa for businessmen and visa on arrival for those over 65 years of age. The new pact replaces the existing visa regime that began in 1974. The agreement was signed between Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who is on a three-day...
05:39 PM, Sep 08, 2012
Mumbai: A former US employee has filed a lawsuit against Infosys Ltd, India's No 2 software services provider, saying he was harassed for pointing out possible misuse of US business visas, according to a copy of the lawsuit seen by Reuters. The case is similar to one scheduled to go to trial later this month. Employment visas are a politically charged topic in the United States, especially those related to...
02:12 AM, Aug 10, 2012
New Delhi: Indian IT companies, including market leaders TCS and Infosys, may have to bear huge costs towards employee visa fees going ahead, which in turn can put pressure on their profit margins. Difficult visa norms, particularly in the US - one of the most important markets for the Indian software companies - have already made an adverse impact on their operating margins in the first quarter of the current...
01:16 PM, Jul 15, 2012
London: Under pressure from education and industry leaders to review recent curbs on student visas, Prime Minister David Cameron is likely to reverse policy and remove international students from official immigration figures, a measure that may relax some of the restrictions. Due to the curbs, many international students have reportedly been deterred from considering Britain as a destination to study. Some universities have reported a fall in applications from India,...
06:10 PM, Jul 08, 2012
Beijing: China has apparently acknowledged that it has discontinued its policy of issuing stapled visas to people from Jammu and Kashmir, suggesting that there have been no such cases in recent times. "Have you seen any such reports (of issuance of stapled visas to Kashmiris) in recent times?" Deputy Director General of China's Foreign Ministry Li Kexin said here, replying to a question on the issue. His remarks come ahead...
03:48 PM, Mar 23, 2012
New Delhi: In what may come as good news to American visa applicants, the United States on Wednesday announced that Indians who are renewing their visas, valid or expired, within four years, are likely to get waiver for a personal interview. "This new programme will permit consular officers to waive interviews for some qualified applicants who are renewing their visa within 48 months or four years, of expiration of their...
05:34 PM, Mar 21, 2012
New York: IT bellwether Infosys on Wednesday said the company and some of its employees are target of US probe related to its sponsorships of B1 business visas. Infosys had received a "subpoena" from a grand jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in May last year. The subpoena requires that Infosys provide to the jury certain documents and records related to the company's sponsorships...
09:49 PM, Jan 25, 2012
Addu: The Maldivian island of Addu is the latest exotic location for a meeting between the Indian and Pakistani leadership. Yet as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prepares to meet Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ahead of the SAARC summit, the challenge is no longer getting talks back on track, but making headway on the issues between them. Sources told CNN-IBN the two leaders hope to focus on the 26/11...
09:31 AM, Nov 09, 2011
New Delhi: The US visa for intra-company transfers, known as 'blanket' L visa, will now be issued only from Chennai and not at four other places - New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. "Starting December 1, the US Consulate General in Chennai will be the US Mission to India s sole blanket L category visa acceptance and processing center ("blanket L visas are issued to managers, executives, or specialised knowledge...
06:13 PM, Nov 01, 2011
London: As part efforts to curb abuse of student visas, new restrictions announced by the David Cameron government on working while studying and bringing students' dependent to the UK have come into effect. Home Office research shows that the student visa route is often abused by people from India and other countries from outside the European Union for entry into the country for work rather than studies. The new restrictions...
08:49 PM, Jul 10, 2011
London: Newly discovered documents indicate that the British government concealed how often it administered so-called "virginity tests" to female immigrants from India hoping to enter the country in the 1970s on marriage visas. The documents, unearthed by legal researchers Marinella Marmo and Evan Smith from Australia's Flinders University, showed that the tests meant to prove that women coming into Britain to marry were virgins had been administered more than 80...
10:24 AM, May 10, 2011
Washington: Some al-Qaeda operatives used New Delhi-based global missionary movement Tablighi Jamaat to get visas and fund their travel to Pakistan and lived for a while in and around the Indian capital, secret US documents released by WikiLeaks say. At least three operatives of the banned terror group, including a Somalian financier and a Sudanese recruiter used Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), said to be one of the largest Muslim movement in...
05:15 PM, May 09, 2011
