Steps Taken to Check Fake Visa Travel

A number of steps have been taken by the government to check travel by persons on forged/fake documents. These steps include:

i. Use of magnifying glasses and Ultra Violet lamps at all International Airports for scrutinizing the features of the travel documents.

ii. Issuance of machine-readable passports and visas with improved security features;

iii. Installation of Passport Reading Machines (PRMs) and Questionable Document Examiner (QDX) Machines at major ICPs for detection of sophisticated forgeries in the travel documents;

iv. Installation of Questionable Document Examiner (QDX) for verifying the genuineness of the passports;

v. Installation of Immigration Control System (ICS) software which verifies the passport details of passengers to prevent impersonation;

vi. Particulars of Passports issued by the RPOs and visas issued by some Indian Missions abroad, are made available to Immigration officers for cross checking;

vii. Special training to Immigration Officers at airports on a regular basis to detect forged/fake travel documents.

131 cases of fake visa cards have been registered at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi till November, 2011. Prompt action is taken for conducting enquiry as and when such cases of fake visas are detected. After the enquiry, criminal cases are registered against the accused. Accused persons involved in preparing such forged/fake documents are apprehended by the local police authorities and appropriate action is taken against them as per law.