H1B Visa: Indian American Arrested In US In Charges Of H1B Visa & Mail Fraud

Amid news of the Donald Trump administration planning to revise H1B visa policy, an Indian-American has been arrested in the US in charges of H-1B visa and mail fraud.

The person named Kishore Kumar Kavuru was arrested on Friday and produced before the US Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen. He has been charged with 10 counts of visa fraud and as many counts of mail fraud in connection with an alleged scheme which has illegally brought 600 foreign workers to Silicon Valley in the last ten years, reported East Bay Times.

The 46 years old worked as a “staffing specialist” for technology companies looking to hire skilled foreign workers to fill temporary positions. Kavuru used his four consulting companies to file fraudulent applications for non-existent jobs.

Kavuru was the owner and chief executive officer of four consulting companies namely Infinity Methods Corp., ITECH Analyst Corp., Orian Engineering Inc., and Scopus Consulting Group since 2007. He is accused of submitting fraudulent documents with both the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security, containing details of fake work projects requiring the employment of foreign workers.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Kavuru had a number of unemployed H-1B beneficiaries that were immediately available for legitimate work projects. He used to take advantage of prospective workers and asked them to pay thousands of dollars to submit the visa applications. He also benched those workers without pay for months until they got real jobs with tech firms.

If convicted, Kuavuru will face 10 years of imprisonment and a maximum fine of USD 250,000 for each count of visa fraud and up to 20 years of imprisonment for each count of mail fraud.

The news gives strength to Trump administration’s claims that many US companies misuse the H-1B visa policy to get cheap foreign labor at the expense of jobs for Americans.