Md Imran, a 17-year-old chess prodigy from India, faces a visa crisis that could jeopardise his full scholarship at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley.

In June 2025 he lost both his passport and a valid US F-1 visa while in Bratislava, Slovakia. After receiving a replacement passport from the Indian Embassy in Budapest on June 29, he applied for a new Schengen visa for Hungary on July 7 – his 13th attempt.

He was granted a three-month Schengen visa valid from July 18 to October 31. Despite that, he has not secured a US visa appointment since the incident and has been trying every day for four months.

His university orientation is scheduled for January 19, 2027, and he has deferred his admission from Fall 2026 to Spring 2027.

Imran has competed extensively in Hungary over the previous two years and participated in more than ten events between July and October 2025. He is one Grandmaster norm away from achieving the title, but the visa crisis could derail both his academic and chess career.