Us-indian woman guilty in H1B visa fraud scheme

34-year-old HR manager faces 5 yrs in jail, $250,000 fine

AN INDIAN-ORIGIN woman has pleaded guilty for her role in an H1B visa fraud scheme under which foreign workers were recruited by two IT firms here but were not employed full time or paid according to federal rules.

Hiral Patel, 34, of Jersey City pleaded guilty before US District Judge Kevin Mcnulty in Newark federal court to an information charging her with conspiracy to obstruct justice as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain foreign worker visas, US Attorney Paul Fishman said.

Patel faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when sentenced in June.

Patel was the human resources manager for two information technology companies SCM Data Inc and MMC Systems Inc, which offered consultants to clients in need of IT support.

Both companies recruited foreign nationals, often student visa holders or recent college graduates, and sponsored them for visas under the H-1B programme that allows businesses in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers with specialised or technical expertise in a particular field, such as accounting, engineering or computer science.

Patel’s conspirators recruited foreign workers with purported IT expertise who sought work in the United States.

They sponsored the foreign workers’ H-1B visas with the stated purpose of working for SCM Data and MMC Systems’ clients throughout the US.

When submitting the visa paperwork to the US Department of Homeland Security, US Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS), the conspirators represented that the foreign workers had fulltime positions and were paid an annual salary, as required to secure the visas.

However contrary to these representations and in violation of the H-1B programme, the conspirators paid the foreign workers only when they were placed at a third-party client who entered into a contract with SCM Data or MMC Systems.

The case comes amid a strong criticism of the abuse of the H1B visa programme, which US lawmakers say is used to bring in cheap labour from foreign markets like India.

Donald Trump has vowed to reform the immigration system to ensure Americans don’t lose their jobs and are given priority by companies before bringing in foreign workers. PTI