Fraud found in H1B visa process

A report by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has found that forged documents, fake degrees and shell companies were used in H1B applications --  a revelation that may lead to increased scrutiny of the visa petitions.

A USCIS spokesman told ComputerWorld.com that a series of reforms are being considered, including the use of "independent open-source data" to obtain information about visa seekers or the companies that file the petitions on their behalf. The USCIS is also looking at implementing a risk assessment program for applications "based on objective criteria relating to fraud indicators," the spokesman said.

The report was completed in September and released last week by Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA). It found that 21 percent of the 246 H1B applications reviewed by USCIS staffers contained either outright fraud or "technical violations" of federal laws and regulations.

USCIS investigators also discovered that some employers weren't paying prevailing wages to H1B holders. In other cases, the report said, companies had "benched" visa holders when work wasn't available for them, or had them doing different jobs than the ones that were listed on their H1B applications.

For more on this immigration issue:
- see this ComputerWorld.com article

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How to dodge the H1B visa scramble