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High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Oct 14, 2008 07:28pm |
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| Category | Report |
| News Date | Thursday, October 9, 2008 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | A report released Oct. 8 by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reveals that 13% of petitions filed for H-1B visas on behalf of employers are fraudulent. Another 7% contain some sort of technical violations.
The H-1B visa program has become increasingly controversial in recent years as groups such as the Programmers Guild and WashTech, which represent U.S. tech workers, allege it is being abused, resulting in mistreatment of foreign workers, wage depression, and the displacement of U.S. workers. The program was originally set up to allow companies in the U.S. to import the best and brightest in technology, engineering, and other fields when such workers are in short supply in America. But data released this year by the federal government show that offshore outsourcing firms, particularly from India, dominated the list of companies that were awarded H-1B visas to employ workers in the U.S. (BusinessWeek, 3/6/08) in 2007. Indian outsourcers such as Infosys (INFY), Wipro (WIT), and Tata (TCS.NS) accounted for nearly 80% of the visa petitions approved last year for the top 10 participants in the program.
There is also evidence that workers on H-1B visas are being mistreated. In a pending case (BusinessWeek, 1/31/08), H-1B workers for State Farm Insurance allege they were underpaid.
Critics say such instances of abuse represent the tip of an iceberg of deeper problems with the visa program. Academics and U.S. tech worker advocates point out the requirement that even employers who abide by the law—for example by paying the required "prevailing wage"—are able to underpay workers . "We shouldn't forget that the major problem with the H-1B program are caused by massive loopholes that allow firms to legally pay below-market wages and force US workers to train foreign replacements," says Hira. "Those wouldn't show up in this investigation because they are entirely legal." Hira says that a bill proposed by Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) bill in 2007, S. 1035, would address both fraud and legal loopholes in the program. |
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