Not too long ago, Immigration finally caved in on a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
The purpose of the legal proceedings: To Discover So-Called “Fraud Indicators” Used by the Government to Review Petitions for H-1B Visas.
However, the reality emerged as the papers were uncovered.
In 2008, Immigration began looking hard at certain businesses.
The new plan caused a huge jump in raids (“unannounced worksite fraud inspections”) and a much more difficult review of many H-1B visas.
In its efforts to stop people from exploiting the H-1B program, Immigration used three “anti-fraud” bases, resulting in unfair action against companies that were new and/or small.
The government documents – which finally were exposed – demonstrate that Immigration became automatically prejudiced against any entity:
- with a gross income of less than ten million dollars
- with less than 26 employees OR
- which were founded in the last 10 years
When any of the above 3 criteria were identified, the Immigration Service instructed officials to look for fraud and/or “technical violations.”
In addition, Immigration told officers to essentially dissect petitions for H-1B visas upon discovery of these any of these three alleged “fraud indicators.”
What this meant practically: for years, small businesses and startups faced unfair treatment by Immigration, and sometimes, denials of perfectly legitimate visa applications.
Things are supposed to be better now, but this is all food for thought.
If you fall within the pool of candidates for H-1B visas or are a petitioner company, consult with the best immigration lawyer possible to review your matter.
