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Grassley Seeks H-1B Job Assurances
By: Roy Mark
2009-09-30
Article Rating:    / 3
There are 19 user comments on this Government IT story.
With the federal government set to begin its new fiscal year Oct. 1, Sen. Chuck Grassley wants the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to require that new H-1B visa applicants actually have a job waiting for them in the U.S.Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services Sept. 29 to hold employers accountable by requesting evidence from
petitioners that H-1B visa holders actually have a job waiting for them in the United
States. Grassley's comments came after
several small Iowa communities
were used as nothing more than mail drops in an elaborate H-1B visa fraud scheme earlier this
year that allowed foreign workers to illegally work on the East and West coasts
while being paid the lower Iowa
prevailing rates.
"We dont need a long, arduous legislative process to get at some of the
problems. The agency can take immediate steps to eliminate fraud in the
H-1B program, including cracking down on body shops that do not comply with the
intent of the law," Grassley said in a statement. "Employers need to
be held accountable so that foreign workers are not flooding the market,
depressing wages, and taking jobs from qualified Americans."
Grassley, a fierce critic of the specialty H-1B visas, has been pounding for H-1B
reform since a 2007 audit found as
many as 20 percent of the H-1B applications may be fraudulent or technically flawed.
The audit of 246 H-1B applications discovered 13 percent of the applicants used
forged documentation, false businesses or addresses, or false job offers or
misrepresented their immigration status. Another 7 percent had technical
violations such as requiring the applicant to pay the application fee or list a
salary substantively above what the applicant would actually be paid.
In the Sept. 29 letter to USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas, Grassley
wrote, "Simply put, adjudicators should be asking companies up front for
evidence that H-1B visa holders actually have a job awaiting them in the U.S.,
i.e. that workers are not coming in only to be 'benched' by employers."
In February, two New Jersey IT services firms allegedly used shell businesses
in two small Iowa townsCoon
Rapids and Cliveas part of an elaborate H-1B visa
fraud scheme that began to unravel with the arrests of 11 individuals in seven
states. According to the Department of Justice, the scheme involved hiring college-educated foreign workers to allegedly fill
high-tech jobs in Iowa when, in fact, the workers were sent to the East and West
coasts while being paid the lower prevailing Iowa wage rate.
In other cases, the DOJ claims, foreign workers were recruited and H-1B visas were
obtained for non-existent jobs or the workers were placed in jobs and
locations not previously certified by the Department of Labor, replacing
qualified American workers and violating prevailing wage laws.
In multiple indictments revealed by the DOJ, the investigation seems to center
on Vision Systems Group of South Plainfield, N.J.,
and Praveen Andapally, identified as president of Venturisoft, also based in South Plainfield. The other indictments include Vishnu Reddy, who was identified as
president of Pacific West of Santa Clara, Calif.
"We have seen substantial fraud and program violations by employers
who bring in H-1B visa holders and then outsource them to other work
sites. Such was the case with the indictment of Vision Systems Group, Inc.
earlier this year in my home state," Grassley wrote to Mayorkas.
"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alleges that the company did not
have jobs available for the H-1B workers they petitioned for, and placed them
in non-pay status upon arrival in the United
States."
| | Reader Comments: Grassley Seeks H1-B Job Assurances | | >>> Post your comment now!
| | A user comment on this articleEvery H1b visa is an American who gets fired and tossed out on the street.
People who fire American workers to hire Indian H1Bs are guilty of... Posted At: 10-19-09 By: Anonymous | | | | | | H1 B workers takeaway american workers' jobsH1-B workers displace qualified Americans. Not only this they also disturb the wage rates that would have been prevalent otherwise. Steps should be... Posted At: 10-13-09 By: Victim | | | | | | H1-b is just part of the problemGrassley is doing what little an individual Congressperson can do - going after the small stuff. It is up to us, the public, to put pressure on... Posted At: 10-07-09 By: Margaret Bartley | | | | | | KISS PrincipleIt's easy. If you are a company operating in the US, you hire US citizens. Simple. If you are a company operating in France, you hire French... Posted At: 10-07-09 By: Tom | | | | | | Globalism at it BestMany years ago internationalism which seemed to be a realistic economic and political based concept was replaced by globalism. I read an interest... Posted At: 10-03-09 By: Steve Starr | | | | | | | | | | | | To lower Pyscial Therapist wages ?It's called supply and demand. I am sending my son to college on a salary that was limited by the influx of h1-b's in my field. Now you want to do... Posted At: 10-01-09 By: Tim - h1-B victim | | | | | | >>> Post your comment now! | | | | | |
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