Hyd key centre for H1B document frauds, alleges US diplomat

A US diplomat has alleged that the H1B visa system is gamed by Indians to send undeserving candidates to the North American country.

In a podcast, she pointed at Hyderabad as one of the key centres of such manipulation with huge money, influence and nepotism getting used for receiving approval under the H1B visa programme.

Indian-American diplomat Mahvash Siddiqui has pointed at systematic rut leading to fraud in the H1B visa programme. Notably, Siddiqui served at the Chennai consulate between 2005 and 2007 as a consular officer and had handled several such applicants, who were able to get approval despite being ineligible. US Consular office in Chennai is one of the world’s largest H1B visa-processing posts where thousands of applicants from four regions - Hyderabad, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu - are processed

“Around 80–90 per cent of visas issued to Indians, most of which are H1B visas, are fraudulent, either based on fake degrees, forged documents, or applicants who are not genuinely highly skilled enough to qualify. Hyderabad was the most concerning,” she said in the podcast, alleging Ameerpet area in Hyderabad as the epicentre of the fraudulent and forged documents used for obtaining H1B visas

"As an Indian-American, I hate to say this but fraud and bribery are normalised in India," she added.

According to her, there were instances where candidates skipped their job interviews entirely if the interviewer was American. She also alleged that proxy candidates appeared for the interview and that Indian managers gave jobs to Indians in lieu of money.

Siddiqui was speaking in her personal capacity, not as a diplomat. According to her, officials in Chennai consular office raised red flags regarding such corrupt practices but then US administration ignored their concern owing to political pressure.

“We quickly learnt about the fraud. We wrote a dissent cable to the Secretary of State, detailing the systematic fraud we were uncovering. But due to political pressure from the top, our adjudication was overturned,” she said in the podcast.

According to her, their anti-fraud drive was called a “rogue operation” alleging that numerous politicians were involved in the fraud and that there was significant pressure on them not to carry out their investigation against the alleged fraud.

The H1B visa programme is one of the most important immigration programmes run by the US government to enable movement of talented professionals to the North American country. India has been one of the major beneficiaries of the H1B visa programme.

Indian IT companies, global technology firms, and others tap this route to hire professionals onsite. Due to protectionist measures of Trump administration, while Indian IT firms have reduced their dependence on H1B visa programme, American technology giants are tapping this route aggressively. In recent months, Trump in his second term, has imposed a prohibitive entry fee of $100,000 on new H1B visa applicants, making it difficult for employers to tap this route in coming years.