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Don't let your travel agency submit fake papers for visa

Ras Al Khaimah - Make sure all the documents attached to your visa application are authentic, or else a case will be slapped against you

Want to travel to Europe? Make sure all the documents you attach to your visa application are authentic, or else you will find a case slapped against you, irrespective of whether it is you or the travel agency who submits counterfeit documents.
Five residents are standing trial at the Ras Al Khaimah Misdemeanour Court for forging bank statements to get tourist visas to European countries. The defendants include two employees of a travel agency and three of their customers. "They are involved in counterfeiting bank statements and stamps," the prosecutor told the court. 
The defence lawyer of one of the travel agency employees argued that the forged statements of a local bank were not addressed to any official body in the country. The owner of the travel agency, who reported the case to law enforcement agencies, did so only after his client willingly told him about it, the defence lawyer underlined.
The defence lawyer of the second defendant told the court that his client had nothing to do with the case. "It was his colleague who forged the bank statements and gave them to my client, who was unaware they were forged."
The defence lawyer of the three visa applicants said none of the said documents was official. "They were only customary or non-official papers that brought no damage to the bank or embassy under whose name the documents were issued."
One of the three visa applicants told the court that he did not forge or submit any bank statement. "I only agreed with one of the two staffers to arrange all the documents needed and get me visas for all my family members for Dh5,000 each.
"A relative of mine had already travelled to a European country through the same method adopted by the travel agency," he added.
The other two applicants said they were unaware that the bank statements or any of the credentials attached to their visa applications were counterfeit. "We did not doubt the procedures of the travel agency and were only interested in travelling abroad," they told the court.
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com