US govt flags makes an try and cheat H-1B visa lottery system, factors warning

By India Today World Desk: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Friday talked about that the computerised drawing of tons devised to select worthwhile H-1B candidates yearly has resulted in abuse of the system and a sharp enhance in fraudulent efforts.

In an unusual assertion, USCIS talked about that it has already undertaken intensive fraud investigations, denied and revoked petitions based on proof from the Financial Year 2023 and Financial Year 2024 H-1B cap seasons.

The federal firm talked about that it is inside the technique of initiating regulation enforcement referrals for felony prosecution.

“The H-1B programme is an essential part of our nation’s immigration system and our economy, and the USCIS is committed to implementing the law and helping meet the ever-changing needs of the US labour market,” it talked about.

“We are working on an upcoming H-1B modernisation rule that will propose, among other improvements, bolstering the H-1B registration process to reduce the possibility of misuse and fraud in the H-1B registration system,” it added.

USCIS talked about that it seen an enormous enhance inside the number of registrations submitted as compared with prior years, all through the registration interval for the FY 2024 H-1B cap.

It talked about there have been 780,884 functions for H-1B visas on this yr’s computer-generated lottery, in opposition to 4,83,927 in 2023 and three,01,447 in 2022 and a few,74,237 in 2021.

Generally, it seen an increase inside the number of registrations submitted, the number of registrations submitted on behalf of beneficiaries with numerous registrations, and the number of registrations submitted on behalf of distinctive beneficiaries with only one registration.

The number of registrations tied to people who utilized better than as quickly as rose to 408,891 this yr from 165,180 ultimate yr and 90,143 the yr sooner than, the corporate talked about.

The federal firm warned that if the information equipped by an applicant or a company was not proper, it’s going to uncover the registration to not be accurately submitted and the potential petitioner would not be eligible to file a petition based on that registration.

The USCIS might deny a petition, or revoke a petition approval, based on a registration that contained a false attestation and was subsequently not accurately submitted.

“Furthermore, USCIS may also refer the individual or entity who submitted a false attestation to appropriate federal law enforcement agencies for investigation and further action, as appropriate,” it talked about.

A bunch of US Tech Workers, who’re campaigning in opposition to the H-1B visas, talked about it has spoken about such a fraud for the earlier numerous years.

“The Trump administration had proposed a fix to the H-1B lottery by prioritising selection based on highest wages. You sued the administration so now you have to deal with the fraud that you are complaining about,” it talked about in an announcement.

(With inputs from PTI)