IMPORTANT SIV UPDATE:

The government has paused issuing visas to Afghan SIV applicants. 

The deadline to file an application for COM approval under the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program was December 31, 2025. 

If you have a pending COM application, the U.S. government has stated that the deadline to submit any outstanding documents for your pending COM application is June 5, 2026.

If you receive a COM denial letter and you are able to appeal it, you should still have 120 days from the date the decision letter was sent to you, even if that date is after June 5, 2026. The June 5, 2026 deadline is only to submit additional documents for a pending application.

You can learn more about what this means for SIV applicants here.

This article was last updated on October 8, 2025

Summary

This article is for people who have applied for Chief of Mission (COM) approval and have received a COM denial letter stating that COM believes you submitted a fraudulent document. This article explains what fraud is, what it means that COM believes a document is fraudulent, and what kind of evidence you may need to submit in order to fix your application and overcome a fraud finding. 

How Do I Know if My Denial Is Because of Fraud?

If the denial letter that you received from COM includes any of the following statements, then COM believes that one or more of the documents that you submitted with one of your COM applications are fraudulent. 

• “The documents you submitted with your previous application for Chief of Mission approval were confirmed as fraudulent.”
• “The letter of recommendation you submitted with your application for Chief of Mission approval is fraudulent.” 
• “The employment letter you submitted with your application for Chief of Mission approval is fraudulent.”
• “The employment verification letter you submitted with your application is fraudulent. You changed the start date of your employment to qualify for the SIV Program.”

What is Fraud?

If your denial letter contains language similar to the examples provided above, it means that COM believes that you submitted a fake recommendation letter, employment letter, or another document with one of your COM applications. This decision could be based on different scenarios. 

• It could mean that COM believes that a document was entirely faked, meaning that COM believes you or another person created the document to impersonate a supervisor or HR official authorized to write a letter on your behalf. 
• It could mean that COM believes you changed a real document after it was created by another person. This could be changing the name, dates of employment, or other personal details in a recommendation letter or employment letter. 
• It could mean that the US government believes that the author of the letter has been selling letters in exchange for money or writing letters that contain untrue, unverified or unreliable information.

From working with a large number of Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants over the years, IRAP has seen many common scenarios in COM applications that often lead to fraud findings:

1. Using third party letter writers - We understand that there are people at Internet cafes, markets, and elsewhere who offer to help COM applicants by creating recommendation and employment letters for them. In most cases, the letters that these providers create result in a fraud denial for the applicant.  

2. Changing letters submitted by other applicants - Sometimes, successful SIV applicants share the letters from their applications with other applicants. The other applicants then change  the letters to add their own names, dates of employment, and other details. This can result in a fraud denial for these possible reasons. 
   • Some of the details might not match with each other, such as the dates of the contract listed in the letter not overlapping with the applicant’s listed employment dates. 
   • The letter writer is contacted by COM to verify the authenticity of the letter and tells COM that they did not write that letter for that applicant. 

3. Some letter writers and employers are no longer eligible to support SIV applications because COM has found them to be engaged in fraud in the past, or because they have other credibility concerns with that person or company. If you submit letters from one of these employers or writers, your application may be denied for fraud. 

Consequences of a Fraud Finding

A fraud finding makes you unable to get COM approval unless you can prove that you never submitted a fraudulent document. A fraud finding will stop you from being able to get COM approval in any future COM application. This means that if you submit an application and are denied for fraud, and then submit a second application with all new, non-fraudulent documents, you will still be denied COM approval due to the fraud finding from the first application. This will happen even if the documents you submit with the new application are based on a different employer and are authentic.

Overcoming a Fraud Finding

A fraud finding is extremely difficult to overcome. To overcome it, you must submit very strong evidence that none of the documents that you have ever submitted to COM were fraudulent. 

Importantly, a fraud finding does not necessarily mean that COM has decided that you never worked for the employer that you claim to have worked for. A fraud finding only means that COM believes that one or more of the documents you submitted is fraudulent. Therefore, submitting extra documentation proving your employment will not be enough to fix your application.  Instead, you must also provide proof that you got the letters you submitted in a legitimate way, to show that none of them were fraudulent. You must also prove that the content of the letters is accurate, to show that none of the information contained in the letters was untrue.

If you have received a COM denial based on fraud that you believe is incorrect because you never obtained documents from an Internet cafe or other merchant, changed any documents after they were signed, or changed the content of any documents, you may consider taking the following steps in order to try to reverse  the fraud finding:

1. Figure out which document or documents COM might have decided were fraudulent. This might be clear from the denial letter that you received, if it says that either the recommendation letter or employment letter was found to be fraudulent. 

If the denial letter does not say which document was fraudulent but says that you were denied for fraud, consider contacting your letter writers to ask whether they were contacted by COM to verify the authenticity of their letters. If they were not contacted, it could be that COM determined that those authors are not able to submit letters for the SIV program. This would be because COM decided that all of their letters, including the ones submitted for your application, are considered fraudulent. 

Finally, if you know that you paid for one of your letters from an Internet cafe or other merchant, or you changed a letter after receiving it, then that letter is likely the one that was found to be fraudulent. 

2. Gather evidence to prove that the documents you submitted were not fraudulent:
   1. Evidence that you obtained the letter directly from the author: If you have emails, WhatsApp messages, or other written communication between you and the letter writer where you asked for a letter and they sent it to you, save screenshots or printouts of those exchanges and submit them with your next application. If not, ask the letter writer to write a new letter that explains that the previous letter was authentic. 
   2. Evidence that the letter was written by an authorized person: Any new letter can also present evidence that shows that the letter writer really did work for the same employer as you, at the same time as you, and is authorized to write the letter on your behalf.
   3. Evidence that the letter contained all true information: You can also submit other evidence that proves that you really were employed where you say you were employed. If you have employment contracts, badges, or other evidence, you can submit that. Or, if you can get new letters from other people confirming your employment, submit that. However, please note again that without some proof that your previously submitted documents were authentic, additional evidence of your employment on its own will not usually be enough to overcome a fraud denial. 

3. Submit the above documents to the National Visa Center (NVC) by emailing them to AfghanSIVApplication@state.gov. Along with those documents, submit a letter explaining that you did not commit fraud in your earlier application. This new submission will be an appeal if you are submitting it within 120 days of your most recent denial or will be a new application if more than 120 days have passed since your most recent denial. Either way, COM will still consider your earlier fraud finding when reviewing any future COM application or appeal. 

The text below is a template letter that you can edit to fit your case to explain why your past submission was not fraudulent. Please note that this argument might not fit your individual situation, so it is important that you review this text carefully and edit it to better fit your case. There is no guarantee that including any of the text below in your cover letter will allow you to successfully overcome your fraud denial.

Template Explanation of No Fraud

Re: COM Application for [YOUR NAME, YOUR DATE OF BIRTH]

My previous application for COM approval was denied on the determination that I submitted an allegedly fraudulent document. 

That fraud determination is erroneous because I did not submit any inauthentic documents or any documents that contained any untrue information. With this letter I am submitting new evidence to prove that the previous letter submitted was authorized and legitimate and contained accurate information. 

I obtained the letter legitimately and honestly. [Explain how you got the employment letter and/or recommendation letter that you previously submitted, and include screenshots of emails or WhatsApp messages between you and the letter writer from the relevant time period, showing that you asked them for the letter and they sent it to you.]

All of the information contained in the letter is accurate. [Add any additional details that explain how the information in your previous letters is accurate and mention any proof you are including that it is accurate.]

My previously submitted documents are not fraudulent. I never submitted any information that was untrue. The evidence I am submitting should prove that, and I should be eligible for COM approval. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]