{
  "slug": "appointment-slot-bots",
  "title": "The visa appointment was free. Getting one cost two hundred dollars.",
  "summary": "Bots claim public appointment slots the second they open, then resell them. Detection keeps losing. The fix is a booking that cannot be transferred.",
  "lede": "Public appointment systems release scarce slots into a queue that scripts can enter faster than people. The slots are then resold, and the agency's answer is to cancel bookings, which lands on the applicant rather than the broker. The structural fix is not better bot detection. It is a booking that cannot be handed to anyone else.",
  "date": "2026-09-30",
  "reading_time": "17 min read",
  "category": "Regulated",
  "tags": [
    "visa appointment bots",
    "appointment scalping",
    "public sector scheduling",
    "queue integrity",
    "proof of human",
    "government services"
  ],
  "image": "https://cdn.twc.sh/images/igcache/Appointment%20Slot%20Bots/1200_630/blog.jpg",
  "url": "/blog/appointment-slot-bots.html",
  "wordcount": 3709,
  "related": [
    "detection-debt",
    "public-comment-integrity",
    "ghost-students-financial-aid"
  ],
  "schema": "Article"
}