Kishore Charged for H-1B Visa Fraud in US

Kishore Dattapuram, a 55-year-old Indian-origin man based in Santa Clara, California, has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for orchestrating a large-scale H-1B visa fraud scheme in the United States. Kishore is a co-founder of the firm Nanosemantics. He used to fraudulently secure H-1B visas for foreign workers by applying for them even before legitimate job offers were in place.

This gave his firm an unfair competitive edge in the Bay Area’s tech staffing industry, as it allowed them to have ready-to-go visa holders that could be quickly placed at client companies.

In addition to the prison sentence, Dattapuram will serve three years of supervised release following his time in custody. He has also been ordered to pay a $7,500 fine along with a $1,100 special assessment fee.

The case dates back to an indictment filed in February 2019. Kishore, along with two other Indian-origin co-defendants—Kumar Aswapathi (55) and Santosh Giri (48)—with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and ten counts of substantive visa fraud. All three pleaded guilty in November.

The scheme exploited the H-1B system by submitting fraudulent applications and securing visas under false pretenses, essentially stockpiling workers who could later be deployed to various tech companies for a fee.