fraud

Well, Chris has a new job. I mean a new aspect to his job. We both realize that he should really be telling you this and that it should be located under the “Chris” heading, but he's too busy so I'm telling you about it instead.

You see, first tour junior officers (JOs) all work for some period of time on the Non-Immigrant Visa (NIV) line. This is, for the most part and in most cases, their primary duty for two years. They talk to folks who want to go to America and make decisions about their eligibility to do so. They then either reject the application or they issue a visa that allows the applicant to legally present him or herself at an American port of entry. This work is very tedious and high-paced, especially in a post like Chennai that has grown, extremely rapidly, to be one of the highest-volume visa posts in the world. It is very grueling and mostly thankless work.

However, JOs also have other jobs around the place (portfolios) that allow them to experience different kinds of problems and solutions. For instance, one co-worker works part-time in the American Citizen Services (ACS) office, helping lost Americans get home, replacing stolen passports, identifying bodies of dead Americans, etc. Another co-worker runs the Business Express Program (BEP), which is a program that allows local businesses with a high degree of proven legitimacy to process visas for their employees more quickly. Chris, while he has had some experience with a few portfolios since we've been here, is now the fraud guy.

Fraud is rampant here and the consulate is involved in a constant battle to curtail fraudulent behavior. Chris has been assigned to this unit and now spends a portion of every work day processing paperwork about fraud cases, doing investigations, and busting the liars. He enjoys the work very much, likes the people in the unit that he works with, and is very happy to not be on the NIV line all day, every day.

He's a happier camper than he was a month ago.

That's it. That's the end of the story.