US Embassy In Delhi Concerned Over Job Shoppers Filing Applications Through Fake Companies For The H-1B Work Permit
08/02/2008
The battle for filing for the H-1B work permit applications for fiscal year 2009 heats up, leaving the US Embassy in Delhi concerned over the growing number of fake petitions from India.
Peter G Kaestner, Minister Counsellor for Consular affairs and Consul-General at the US Embassy in Delhi said: "The number of bogus petitions for H1B visas from India being filed with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is on the rise. This has caused great concern because it adversely impacts genuine business people from India who may lose out because the numbers of H1B visas issued every year are capped at 65,000."
Last year, H-1B visa cap was reached within a day of the start of the application process on April 1, 2007. This year too, experts and lawyers feel that the quota for fiscal 2009 will be filled up within a couple of hours after USCIS starts accepting application on April 1, 2008.
"USCIS sends the petitions to us for verification after the applications are filed and last year we've found many cases of people who were. We have also unearthed cases of frauds in student visa applications from India, including a college in the US giving out fraudulent 1-20 SEVIS forms to students who did not qualify for the courses."
"Hence, we have to be more careful this year in scanning the documents," added Mr Kaestner. For the financial year 2007, the overall non-immigrant category US visas issued in India went up by 58% to 7, 25,532. Of this, H1-B visas were up to 72,288 from 55,017 in financial year 2006.
The USA H1-B visa service allows an employer in the United States to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations for a period of up to six years.
A US H1-B visa application operates as close to the UK work permit application. The process is employer led and begins with an offer of employment from a United States based company. Unlike the UK, where the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme or HSMP allows a candidate to move in order to search for employment; when immigrating to the United States, in almost all cases a pre-ranged job offer is necessary.
At Global Visas, our team of immigration lawyers and migration consultants are fully equipped to help you with your US H1-B Work Permit Visa application. Contact Global Visas today and begin your application, or visit our online assessment form.
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