USCIS Cancels H-1B Applications Over Wage Fraud

Many IT consultancy firms owned by Indians in USA often resort to certain malpractices while processing H-1B applications of their clients. The US administration is now firm on identifying such malpractices and revoking the applications without any leniency.

As per reports, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has denied and revoked multiple H-1B visa petitions filed by a major company over wage disparity. The agency said the company had placed some skilled technology jobs under lower wage levels than what was suitable for the actual duties and requirements of those jobs.

The USCIS Vermont office found the issue while reviewing H-1B petitions. According to the agency, putting skilled jobs under lower wage levels can reduce the wages that workers are supposed to get. It can also create unfair competition for American workers.

USCIS has not revealed the name of the IT consulting company. It has also not said how many H-1B petitions were affected or what exact technology jobs were involved.

Companies which apply H-1B petitions for its employees should specify about the role of the job and the wages it will pay to that particular role so as to meet the standard criteria eligible for employment.

So, IT consultancy firms misuse this rule and manipulate the original wages paid to gain undue advantage in processing the applications of their clients.

In this case, the main issue was not simply that the workers were being paid less. USCIS found that the wage level selected for the jobs did not match the duties and skills required for those positions.

This has become an important area of scrutiny as the US government is looking more closely at H-1B applications from IT consulting companies. The latest action shows that the scrutiny is not limited to whether a company has submitted the correct documents. The actual job, its duties and the wage level given to the worker can also come under the scanner.