H-1B visas, which are used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, have been a lightning rod in the immigration debate, with critics saying they are used to undercut U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
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New Delhi: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in a statement said that the computerised drawing of lots devised to select successful H-1B applicants every year has resulted in abuse of the system and a sharp increase in fraudulent efforts.
The U.S. was flooded with nearly 781,000 H-1B visa registrations this year — a more than 60% increase from the prior year, the USCIS informed suspecting H-1B visa fraud.
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In an unusual statement, the USCIS said that based on evidence from the Financial Year 2023 and Financial Year 2024 H-1B cap seasons, it has already undertaken extensive fraud investigations, denied and revoked petitions.
They said that the number of applications for visas used in the technology industry soared for a second straight year, raising “serious concerns” that some are manipulating the system to gain an unfair advantage.
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USCIS said it is in the process of initiating law enforcement referrals for criminal 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 said.
“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.
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USCIS said during the registration period for the FY 2024 H-1B cap, it saw a significant increase in the number of registrations submitted compared to prior years. It said there were 780,884 applications for H-1B visas in this year’s computer-generated lottery, against 4,83,927 in 2023 and 3,01,447 in 2022 and 2,74,237 in 2021.
Generally, it saw an increase in the number of registrations submitted, the number of registrations submitted on behalf of beneficiaries with multiple registrations, and the number of registrations submitted on behalf of unique beneficiaries with only one registration.
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The number of registrations tied to people who applied more than once rose to 408,891 this year from 165,180 last year and 90,143 the year before, it said.
The federal agency warned that if the information provided by an applicant or a company was not correct, it will find the registration to not be properly submitted and the prospective petitioner would not be eligible to file a petition based on that registration.
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The USCIS may deny a petition, or revoke a petition approval, based on a registration that contained a false attestation and was therefore not properly 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 said.
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A group of US Tech Workers, who are campaigning against the H-1B visas, said it has spoken about such a fraud for the past several 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 said in a statement.
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H-1B visas, which are used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, have been a lightning rod in the immigration debate, with critics saying they are used to undercut U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. They are issued for three years and can be extended another three years.
What is H-1B Visa Lottery
The H1B lottery is nothing but a “random selection process” used to select the required number of H1B applicants from a larger pool of applicants. The lottery selection is done to select enough applicants to meet the H1B Cap of 65,000 for the Regular quota and 20,000 for the master’s quota.
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Each year, up to 85,000 people are selected for H-1B visas, a mainstay for technology giants such as Amazon.com Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. and International Business Machines Corp.
