35 Indians Accused of Submitting Forged Documents to German Consulate

The police authorities have revealed that 35 individuals have been involved in a visa scam. According to the police, they submitted fake invitations, income tax returns, and other agreements to the German Consulate, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

The persons who have been accused of carrying out such illegal activities are applicants as well as agents who helped complete the application.

The applications of the now accused persons were submitted between 2017 and 2019 to the German Consulate, The Times of India explains.

According to the latter, as soon as the Consulate was suspicious of illegal activities, it alerted the police intelligence wing, and then the immigration authorities examined the submitted documents as well as the applications and the passports that were already at the Consulate.

Commenting on the matter, a police officer said that during inquiries, immigration personnel found that the income tax returns that were submitted by several applicants were fake. In addition, the officer also revealed that if was found that an applicant who said that he was going to attend an exhibition in Germany submitted a fake invitation letter.

Apart from the above-mentioned, it was pointed out that the applicants who submitted forged documents were mainly citizens of Punjab and Gujarat.

The Time of India further explains that of the total number of cases, eight of them were already accused of holding other passports that they got after submitting the fake documents.

The police officer said that some even travelled while using a fake passport while simultaneously having submitted another at the Consulate.

It has been disclosed that the majority of applicants applied for a tourist visa. However, there were also some that entered into a work agreement. Even though the applicants claimed that the work agreement was legal, the police found out later on that this type of agreement was fake too.

The police are now further investigating the matter and examining if the accused applicants had any plans to remain in Germany or any other European Union country once they left India.

While the accused individuals will not be able to enter Germany since they broke the law, those who meet all the requirements will also not be able to do so as currently, there are no appointments available.

The long waits for Schengen visas have irritated the Ministry of External Affairs of India, which has constantly been holding meetings to clear the backlog. Nonetheless, the EU countries that issue Schengen visas have said that they are dealing with staff shortages and have warned of longer waiting times.