The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. Prospective petitioners seeking to file H-1B petitions must first electronically register and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each prospective beneficiary. Each application will be entered for a computerized drawing of applicants. It’s designed to be an easy process. But we know what happens when the government designs an easy process. Fraudsters come running.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that during the registration period of FY 2024, it has seen a sharp increase in the number of registrations submitted compared to prior years. The USCIS found that a small number of companies entered the same applicants into the lottery multiple times to artificially boost their chances of winning a visa. This means that multiple applications are tied to one person. The number of registrations tied to people who applied more than once rose to 408,891 in 2023 from 165,180 in 2022.
The USCIS has announced plans to modernize the H-1B registration process. But when one hears the proposed changes, one may wonder why those propositions weren’t imposed in the first place! For instance, the federal agency warned that if the information provided by an applicant or a company was not correct, it would find the registration to not be properly submitted and the prospective petitioner would not be eligible to file a petition. Shouldn’t that have already been a requirement? Here’s another one! The USCIS may deny a petition, or revoke a petition approval, based on a registration that contains false documentation. Another good idea, the USCISI may also refer the individual or entity who submitted a false documentation to appropriate federal law enforcement agencies for investigation and further action…as deemed appropriate. Let’s always enforce that one.
Commendations to the USCIS for modernizing the immigration process.
Today’s Fraud Of The Day is based on article “US to modernise H-1B visa registration after detecting fraud in lottery” published by the Federal on April 29, 2023
The United States plans to modernise the H-1B registration process after uncovering abuse and fraud by some companies trying to increase their chances of winning the visa, according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The USCIS has already conducted extensive fraud investigations during the Financial Year 2023 and Financial Year 2024 H-1B cap seasons and denied and revoked petitions. It has found that a few companies are responsible for entering the same applicants into the lottery multiple times to artificially boost their chances of winning a visa.
