People in Gujarat now have to wait a long time to get an appointment for a US tourist visa, with new application deadlines as far back as 2026. Appointments for student visas are still relatively easy to obtain, but visiting visas are now very difficult. As a result of the genuine scarcity, prospective travellers are forced to choose between paying a hefty amount for a shortcut or enduring a lengthy wait.
Many candidates resort to an underground network of agents who claim to have ‘cracked the system’ to obtain accelerated appointments since they are desperate for earlier seats. For an earlier tourist visa slot, these agents demand a premium of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000.
Applicants are prepared to pay these outrageous amounts if they have urgent demands.
For instance, Shwetang Parikh (name changed), a native of Ahmedabad whose appointment was denied four years ago, is now looking for a seat in August 2025. Ultimately, he paid agents who said they could help a hefty Rs 75,000.
“It’s annoying. I had to travel to the US for work; therefore, I had to pay even though I had tried for a long time,” Parikh told a section of media.
Mitul Patel, a businessman from Himatnagar, has a similar situation. In 2023, he had initially scheduled a visitation visa appointment for January 2025. He tried rescheduling for months, hoping to see his brother in the US sooner. “I now have a visa appointment on December 9. I persevered and eventually succeeded,” Patel told a section of media.
His application for a visa was denied 17 years ago, so this is not his first experience with the procedure.
“Some agents have mastered the process of repeatedly checking for cancellations or newly opened slots,” a city-based visa adviser said, who described how agents take advantage of the system’s peculiarities.
They now charge candidates between Rs 15,000 and 20,000 to guarantee an earlier appointment. Numerous ads for these services are readily available on social media sites.
Many Gujaratis now base their willingness to pay to avoid the backlog on whether they can attend family reunions or work obligations in the US.
“Dates do open up sporadically, but only for those who are persistent enough to keep an eye on the system,” stated Bharat Patel, a visa adviser. It is challenging since logging in more than once will lead to the system locking the account. In the absence of intervention, the earliest scheduled appointment is February 2026. Simply put, these agents are profiting from people’s desperation.
According to visa adviser Lalit Advani, due to an evident shortage of tourist visa dates, people are receiving dates a year or a year and a half away.
“Some entities are taking advantage of this desperation,” Advani alleged.
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