>India caught in huge visa fraud
>**********************************
>
>The huge Indian influx of computer technicians into the US is basically a
>big fraud and India has been caught with its pants down in the middle of a
>major US visa racket, Congress has been told.
>
>The US consulate in India's busiest computer workers' base, Chennai, has
>found 55 percent of the petitions as unverifiable of which 21 per cent
>were found to be out-rightly fraudulent.
>
>The findings have been made by a US anti-fraud unit and the problem is so
>enormous that the US congress has taken a serious note of it. Hearings
>were held last week by the Judiciary committee's immigration
>sub-committee.
>
>Rep Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Sub-committee on Immigration and
>Claims of the Judiciary Committee called the fraud "astounding"
during the
>hearings.
>
> Smith said the results of the anti-fraud investigation were astounding.
>Chennai's anti-fraud unit was able to verify the authenticity of only 45
>per cent of the petitions.
>
>Smith got alarmed when the ceiling of 115,000 HB-1 workers, allowed by the
>Congress was reached even before it could match the previous year's dates
>and that sounded many warning bells.
>
>"Something funny happened," Smith said. What is "funny"
to Smith is that a
>77 per cent hike in the number of skilled foreigners granted three-year
>H1-B visas failed to satisfy the soaring demand from US companies for
>foreign workers with high-tech skills.
>
>The American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998
>increased the H1-B quota from 65,000 to 115,000 in 1999 and 2000 with a
>small reduction to 107,500 in 2001.
>
>"Even after almost doubling the number of H1-B visas, the INS reported
>that the new cap of 115,000 visas would be reached well before the end of
>fiscal year 1999," Smith said. "In fact, we reached the cap
earlier with
>115,000 visas than we did the year before when 65,000 visas were
>available."
>
>A year after enacting major legislation, Congress is again hearing the
>pros and cons of opening the US doors wider to foreign professionals with
>needed skills.
>
>"It is rare for Congress to revisit a significant issue such as
increasing
>the overall number of foreign workers admitted to the US less than a year
>after enacting major legislation," said Smith.
>
>The chairman said three factors could be causing the surge in H1-B
>applications: the information technology worker shortage could be
>worsening; US companies may prefer to hire foreign workers to US workers;
>or, many fraudulent visa applications may be filed.
>
>An aide to Congressman Smith, Allen Kay, said Smith was skeptical about
>the need to increase the H1-B visas quota again. He said Congress'
>investigative agency, the General Accounting Office, cast doubt on the
>validity of the main report claiming a technology
>personnel shortage.
>
>The Information Technology Association of America prepared that report.
>
>Another expert witness said the H1-B visa quota needs to be raised to
>about 160,000 to accommodate this year's demand.
>
>The INS and the Department of Labour did not send officials to testify on
>the H1-B issue. The members of the sub-committee and the witnesses
>testifying on both sides of the issue complained of the lack of official
>data.
>
>"On May 26, I wrote to INS Commissioner Doris Meissner and specified
steps
>that she should take to reduce the loss of H1-B numbers to fraud. I have
>yet to receive a reply," Representative Smith said.
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