New Jersey University Was Fake, but Visa Fraud Arrests Are Real

phunterlau News

To learn more, please go to NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/nyregion/new-jersey-university-was-fake-but-visa-fraud-arrests-are-real.html?_r=1 for the original post

Instead, the university was a fake, set up by the Homeland Security Department as part of a sting operation to ensnare criminals involved in student visa fraud.

The people arrested were brokers who recruited foreign students who were mainly from China and India to an institution that they knew would not have real classes.

He paid the university $6,000 to obtain 20 visas for skilled workers, known as H-1B visas, the complaint said. (The government never issued them.) He paid another $17,750 to the school for arranging the extension of student visas.

Indian IT Services And Modern Day Slavery

phunterlau News

Indian IT firms barely meet the minimum H1B salary requirements. To learn more, please go to the original article https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/indian-services-modern-day-slavery-karthik-sundaram by Karthik Sundaram

In a recent report, you can see that the top applicants for the H1B visas are nearly all IT services firms, only a few like Microsoft, Google, and Oracle are other applicants. And do note the minimum salaries these companies declare they will pay the foreign worker–the Indian IT firms barely meet the minimum requirements, while the US companies declare over $100,000 salaries.

STEM OPT will continue to be valid (for now, I mean)

phunterlau update

F-1 students can keep using their non-expired STEM OPT till May 10, 2016. There is hope that they can get into this year’s H1B lottery which is on April 1, 2016. For more details, please check with http://www.nafsa.org/Find_Resources/Supporting_International_Students_And_Scholars/ISS_Issues/Issues/Focus_On_STEM_OPT/

The U.S. District Court has just granted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s motion to extend the current STEM OPT rule until May 10, 2016.

This decision is a win for F-1s using their 17-month EAD extension and their employers, because previously issued STEM OPT EADs will continue to be valid, and USCIS will continue to accept STEM OPT EAD applications, until May 10th.  We are confident DHS will complete its rule making and publish a final rule to permanently reinstitute STEM EAD extensions before the May 10th deadline.

More details about $4000 Extra Fee for 2017 H1B

phunterlau News

In short, it doesn’t practically prevent future H1B fraud from ICCs, and we should expect a more competitive H1B lottery in 2016: these extra $4000 for preventing multi-filing fraud will only be conducted AFTER the lottery, thus, a visa cheater can still submit multiple H1B petitions and later on send 4000$ check to USCIS after being selected in the lottery for fixing the RFE. What a perfect loophole for H1B fraud!

For more details, please refer to http://www.h1bwiki.com/new-h-1b-and-transfers-fees-increased-by-4000-uscis/

We don`t think there will be any effect on H-1B filings this year since the fee is only deducted after getting selected in the lottery. We can still expect a lottery this year.

H1B and L1 Fee to go up by $4000 and $4500 until year 2025

phunterlau News

This Omnibus bill to increase the H1B and L1 petition Fee passed both US House of Representatives and US Senate on Friday ( Dec 18th, 2015). It was also singed by President Obama to be law soon. Companies should pay extra fees for filing H1b applications if it satisfies both the condition right more than 50 employees + 50% employees on h1b. For Indian consulting companies which “bodyshop” IT professional from Indian for multiple H1B visa applications, it would become a problem since some of them don’t really have full-time positions and they ask employees to pay for H1B filing fee, so with the new law, not all ICC employees can afford multiple H1B application, and theproblem of fraud would be partially solved.

In general, it sounds good for less H1b fraud from Indian consulting companies. For more details, please refer to http://www.h1bwiki.com/h1b-visa-fee-doubled-bill-passed/

[NYTimes] How Outsourcing Companies Are Gaming the Visa System

phunterlau News

To read and learn more about this New York Times report, please go to http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/06/us/outsourcing-companies-dominate-h1b-visas.html

13 outsourcing companies took nearly one-third of all H-1B visas in 2014.

The outsourcing companies dominate the visa program by flooding the system with applications.

With more applications, the number of visas given to outsourcing companies has risen sharply.

Many H-1B workers earn salaries below market rates.

The vast majority of H-1B workers are from India. The top outsourcing firms primarily bring temporary workers from India. American companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple have drawn from a wider range of countries, including China and Canada, for their H-1B workers. But in 2014, 70 percent of the H-1B visas went to workers from India, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

TCS, Infosys face US probe for H-1B visa violations

phunterlau News

To read more, please go to http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/TCS-Infosys-face-US-probe-for-H-1B-visa-violations/articleshow/47639928.cms?

NEW YORK: The US government has opened an investigation against two of the biggest Indian outsourcing companies for possible violations of H1-B visa rules, according to a media report.

The Department of Labour has opened the investigation against Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys for “possible violations of rules for visas for foreign technology workers under contracts they held with an electric utility Southern California Edison,” the New York Times said.

Infosys & TCS faces a serious US probe for violating multiple noms for their H1-B VISA requirement. If found guilty, they would suffer a suspension for applying H1-B VISA in the future.

2015 H1B visa rank and the average salary battle

phunterlau update

As you might have known, the top 3 H1B visa sponsors in 2015 are Indian Consulting companies (all come from India, again!): Infosys, TCS and Wipro, and these 3 companies have 46277 visas which is 54% of H1B visa quota this year!.

The average salary is about 70k USD per year in the top 3 companies. But wait, what is the average H1B salary for these top american companies? Google has 125k USD and Microsoft has 116k USD, which are 78% and 65% higher than that 70K USD from these Indian Consulting companies. Unfortunately Google only has 3056 H1B visas and Microsoft 3750, which are 10x less than Infosys+TCS+Wipro. What does it mean? If you are a smart guy who can have a job offer from Google or Microsoft (125K or 116K USD on average), you might have to quit Google/Microsoft and choose Infosys, Tata or Wipro for 70K USD: you have 10x less chance for getting a visa in Google or Microsoft!

What a pity for American companies who want true high skilled workers! What a pity for true talented engineers who have to quit Google/MIcrosoft and choose Infosys, TCS and Wipro for a visa!

To read more, please go to http://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2015-H1B-Visa-Sponsor.aspx (Can’t find Facebook here? Check the 2nd page. Facebook has rank 40th with 133K USD average salary but only 780 H1B visas)

Rank H1B Visa Sponsor Number of LCA * Average Salary
1 Infosys 23,816 $76,794
2 Tata Consultancy Services 14,096 $67,673
3 Wipro 8,365 $69,936
4 IBM 7,944 $87,227
5 Deloitte Consulting 7,016 $102,112
6 Accenture 5,509 $75,532
7 Hcl America 4,749 $81,223
8 Tech Mahindra (Americas) 4,600 $73,025
9 Larsen & Toubro Infotech 4,365 $69,943
10 Ernst & Young 3,976 $89,350
11 Microsoft 3,750 $116,804
12 Igate Technologies 3,124 $68,714
13 Google 3,059 $125,596
14 Intel 2,505 $103,632
15 Cognizant Technology Solutions 2,358 $70,892
16 Ust Global 1,998 $68,681
17 Deloitte & Touche 1,654 $70,043
18 Amazon 1,600 $113,163
19 Qualcomm Technologies 1,585 $111,816
20 Jpmorgan Chase 1,468 $105,370
21 Apple 1,464 $133,593
22 Ntt Data 1,409 $102,643
23 Capgemini Financial Services Usa 1,303 $95,433
24 Oracle America 1,073 $119,506
25 Kpit Infosystems 1,015 $64,300

Chesco case highlights H-1B immigration scams

phunterlau News

To read more, please go to http://articles.philly.com/2015-03-19/news/60254438_1_shell-companies-h-1b-visas

At first blush, Upani Consultants of Chester County appeared to be a group of ambitious workers, mostly from India, who came to the United States on specialty visas to be employed as quality-assurance analysts and software engineers in information technology.

But in fact, according to the guilty plea by Sudhakar Majety in federal court in Philadelphia late last year, the company he created a decade ago in Phoenixville ultimately exploited the H-1B “specialty occupation” visa program by using shell companies and sham contracts to give the impression that Upani needed staff.

When the workers arrived here, according to the indictment, they learned that Upani had no positions and were forced to search for jobs elsewhere.

Majety, 46, of Spring City, Chester County, typically charged each worker about $4,000 for the visa and kept 20 percent of any money the worker earned. Workers who could not find employment had to pay him extra to keep their visas active.

“Worst employers ever. . . . Everything fake,” a burned employee posted anonymously in 2012 on the website Glassdoor, which has online reviews of IT companies.

“You will end up cheated,” another reviewer wrote.