H-1B fraud consultancies grow, with application abuse openly discussed online

Yes, its possible. Yes its happening.

This person file for 3 different companies. All of the companies are owned by the owner who provided this H1B fraud service.

This person got the lottery with one of the companies. Turned out this company doesn’t even have an address. So this person rent a 6 months office, made the website as well.

They will pay this person salary, but the money will be transferred back to this company through other means.

In a few months, this person is trying to find another job which this person can transfer the H1B to.

I don’t want to be too specific. But I want to say that these companies are not of Indian origin, and this person is not an Indian. Think of some countries that are more “legitimate” in the Western eyes.

Just because these countries have low probabilities of fraud happening, doesn’t make it free of fraud. Quite the opposite. These people know this. They know that they aren’t being investigated as much as Indian/SouthEast Asian/African origin.

The craziest part? This person isn’t even in a highly paid technical profession. Its just some low end management role. The pay is shit. Obviously won’t contribute to the society both in taxes or in skills.

Shame on them. But it is also the stupidity of USCIS of letting this system abused.

USCIS better get their shit together.

Or just throw out all the rules, make the H1-B system an auction. Highest total comp over 4 years wins. Add a whistleblower program paying treble the comp package if the beneficiary is not actually working, or not actually skilled. Package must be hourly, and the same whistleblower program applies to working off the clock.

That’s right. It’s because the completely bankrupt USCIS doesn’t have a computerized system to collect applications and therefore cannot run a simple check to see whether they have multiple applications for the same passport number.

But instead of questioning why in 2023 USCIS does not even use basic technology (even an Excel file will do) to detect fraud, an apparently technology savvy forum like HN chooses to insist that nothing can be done with fraud and therefore the entire system must be done with.

1 - I was on the board of a foreign-language school. We used to bring teachers over on H-1 visas: recruit them in April/May because that's when teachers look for work, have them start in August. But now it's impossible as the allocation is consumed long before the teachers are available.

2 - My son's gf was educated in the US (BS + MS). She is able to work for a while (you get a year or two of work allowed on the F) but then didn't win the H-1 lottery. So they will move away next year. Stupid: they are both well educated and contribute to the US economy (and pay a lot of taxes). One of them will even keep their job, just do it overseas.

Even China is recruiting more foreign scientists than the USA these days.

Also, job search for H1B jobs is a nightmare. Searching for them inevitably returns a ton of results that say they don't provide sponsorship. There's usually no field in the job site to select a distinct option for this either.

The sweet spot here is to keep the foreign talent coming without hurting nationals and now more than ever with the advent of "AI".

We'll see which countries will attract the most talented people around the world while also developing its own talented people at home and thrive because of that, and which countries will get let behind because of brain drain and innovation.

Tell me you are unfamiliar with the US visa rules without telling me you are unfamiliar with US visa rules.

> are largely run by Indian-born CEOs.

Like Microsoft & Alphabet?

As bad as US immigration is (I know, I passed through it), this story stinks of racism & bigotry.