Hyderabad & B'glore: Hubs of H1B visa fraud

Like thousands of others like him, he too approached a consulatant to help him realize his dream to work in the US. His H1B petition got approved in October 2006 but it was then that his ordeal started. Instead of taking him to the US, his broker took away his visa documents needed for him to takeoff. He then asked Manoj to buy an IP phone with a US number and start looking for a job. Manoj spent many sleepless nights talking to his prospective employers in the US, all the time telling them that he was in the US. Most of the time, the job offers fell through when the employers thinking Manoj was in the US, wanted him to join within a very short notice.

US authorities admit H1B visa frauds are rampant. Last year alone, they found 2,000 H1B applications suspicious. These applications were returned to the US Department of Homeland Security for reconsideration. Consular Section Chief, US Consulate-Mumbai, Glen Keiser says, 'We also see people who are going to jobs that we suspect do not exist. These people are unable to describe their projects to us. When we do even a cursory examination, we may find that the company in the US is simply nothing more than just a shell. Neither are they in a position to offer work themselves nor do they have a client base, where they can send a qualified worker.'

This year, 150,000 people applied for the quota of 65,000 H1B visas. More than 40% of these petitions were made by Indians and the US consulate says a large number of applications that come to them are suspect. Keiser explains, 'We have found to our regret that Hyderabad and Bangalore are centres of H1B visa fraud and that it is not difficult to walk into an operation and someone rather forthrightly tells you that they can produce anything to appear to qualify for an H1B visa. And in fact, we have had our employees conduct such operations and walking into such agents' office and ask questions.'

The US consulate in India is increasing manpower in its fraud investigation team. They are also taking a tough stand against such fraudsters. As Keiser says, 'We take such cases very seriously. If we can verify that you are presenting a fradulent case to us, we will bar you for the rest of your life to enter h=the US for any kind of visas. If we find out that you as an agent is assisting someone to illegaly enter the US, we can even bar you from getting any kind of US visa.'

But while the US government toughens its stands against such fraudsters in India, these consultants continue their business in broad daylight. A few consultants told us that, they can illegally get us smaller jobs in the US, till the time they find work for us that is suited to our qualifications. A consultant told us, 'You can work as a waiter or in a convenience store till you find a job. A lot of people do that. After all, you would have spent so much money in getting the H1B visa.'

Keiser says, 'This is not legal. We are not taking in people to pump gas or to bake donuts. This visa is to bring in specialised knowledge workers to the United States and make them work for jobs they are qualified to do. That is to say, if I am a computer programmer, I am going to do computer programming and not pump gas till the time someone finds me a job of a computer programmer.'

It's a vicious circle - scamsters eat up the H1B quota and force the genuine Indian companies to depend on them for their manpower requirement. Valid for six years, H1B visas allow highly skilled foreign workers to work in the US in specialised fields like IT, computing, accounting and finance. Last year, out of the top 10 companies that received H1B visas, seven were Indian firms.

Global Head, Sourcing Advisory, KPMG, Pradeep Udhas says, 'Today, India's software companies are booming. They depend a lot on H1B visas because their business models are such that they need people to be onsite. Their business models won't work if the H1B visas are not given.'

Last year, nine Indian IT companies bagged about 20,000 of the 65,000 H1B visas issued. Seven Indian companies including Infosys, Satyam, Wipro and Tata Consultancy figured in the top 10 receivers of H1B visa globally. However, Wipro got only 24% while Infosys managed to get only 20% of what they petitioned for. Both the companies petitioned for 20,000 H1B visas each. However, Wipro got 4,908 while infosys got only 4,002 H1B visas.

Immigration lawyer, Poorvi Chothani explains, 'We represent a lot of IT companies who petititon for their H1B visas. This year, with a lot of petitions and the lottery system, we fear we will not be able to get them even half of their requirement.'

The H1B visa crunch forces these companies to then hire from the H1B workers pool of these scamsters... and that too for a premium. Udhas says, 'A lot of these IT companies are then forced to talk to these 'onsy-twosy' consultants and say ok you give me your people. These consultants take a huge cut for providing the services of these H1B workers, without adding any value.'

This is why most of the professionals who land up in the US on H1B visas, find a job within a few months with a genuine IT company. However, this is not the end of their misery. In most cases the  worker ends up getting only a part of his salary while the fake employer pockets 25% to 45%t of his salary. But even when dreams shatter and people end up working for jobs that they are over- qualified for, they still shy away from reporting their fraud employers.

That is because they go away, leaving behind family and friends and expecting much better prospects. So, they are shattered when the reality turns out to be so much bleaker than what they had expected. And it is this hope that keeps the cash registers of these scamsters ringing. Also, it is this flame of hope that allows thousands of gullible candidates to continue to be victimised by these visa touts.

Payal Goel and Bikas Mishra