Press Release

U.S. Embassy advises public of visa fee scam being perpetrated against potential immigrants to the U.S.

March 23, 2007
No. 2007/ 17

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti advises the public that several individuals posing as employees of the Consulate have been bilking money out of potential immigrants to the U.S. under the guise of expediting their visa appointments.  The public is advised that under no circumstance does the U.S. Embassy or its employees call individual immigrant visa applicants to request advance payment of fees or expect any fee payment to be made via a wire transfer service.

Several Haitians and Haitian-Americans have already been victimized and lost thousands of dollars because of these dishonest acts.  In the scheme, someone calls the expected immigrant visa applicant or family petitioner in the U.S. to tell him that the immigrant visa case is ready to be processed, but that it can only be scheduled for an appointment if the “required fees” have been paid via a money transfer service, in most cases using Western Union. 

The U.S. Embassy advises the public that its representatives are never authorized to call applicants to request advance payment nor are immigrant visa applicants ever expected to pay visa application fees to any entity other than the National Visa Center in the U.S. or at the official cashier inside the Consulate at the time of interview.  Any phone, letter or email request received by an immigrant visa applicant asking him to pay any sort of fee other than through these two official offices should consider the request to be fraudulent and should under no circumstance transfer any monies to an unknown person. 

The U.S. Embassy has been working closely with the Haitian National Police to apprehend the perpetrators of this scam.  Arrest warrants have been issued, and the U.S. Embassy expects arrests to be made shortly. 

Anyone receiving a request for advance payment should take down the information about how to transfer the money and contact the U.S. Embassy via phone 222-0200, x8684, or via email to PAPrso@state.gov or PAPfraud@state.gov.  Persons who believe they have been victimized by this scheme may also send an email to the same addresses.

 

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