An Indian national who tried to enter the EU using a fake Swedish visa has been apprehended at the Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi.

When his paperwork were examined at the visa desk, the man, named as Sandeep, who was travelling to Rome, Italy, was taken into custody.

Sandeep discovered during investigations that Asif Ali, the travel agency, had charged €10,792 (rs 10 lakh) in total, of which €7,554 were paid in cash and €3,237 were made through a bank. Ali had promised to transport him to the EU.

Later on, Ali came clean about his wrongdoing and acknowledged that he had tricked individuals by giving them false hope of employment and simple travel to other nations.

Police advise travelers to get travel documents from authorized agencies

The New Delhi police issued a warning to tourists on their travel documents, particularly their passports, advising them to only deal with licensed agencies in light of the current circumstances.

They also issued a warning against dishonest brokers who promote low prices for international trips. In order to avoid legal problems, the police recommended citizens to confirm the authenticity of agencies and to carefully review any documentation required for travel.

About two years after the incident, the matter of an Indian student who was going to Canada for his studies has recently been resolved. Maharshi Yadav, the student, had bought a ticket to Toronto, Canada, but first had to stop in Munich and Frankfurt.

The Indian student was detained at the Airport after the airline failed to inform him about the requirements of a transit visa, causing financial and emotional damage to Yadav.

Indians accounted for 9.3% of all Schengen visa applications in 2023

The majority of people applying for Schengen visas are Indian nationals. Indians were the third most requested nationality for visas in 2023, according to SchengenVisaInfo figures.

Nevertheless, the not-issued rate is rather high—15.78%—resulting in 811,290 awarded visas after 151,752 denied visas.

The top three nations from which Indian applicants for visas were received were Switzerland, France, and Germany. Eighty-seven percent (166,919) of the 189,646 Indian visa applications were granted.

In addition, 176,237 Indian applications were received by France, and 83.4% of those applications were granted, yielding 146,938 visas. Germany has the highest approval rates of the three; of the 132,825 visas issued, 119,919 were approved, or 89.5 percent.