I do not have info on non-immigrant visas...would like to know if anyone has that.
"H1-B" and "L-1" visas are used to bring skilled workers, especially programmers and engineers, into the U.S., along with other, similar "non-immigrant" visa programs. This Washington Times article covers Congressional hearings on them in 1999 chaired by Lamar Smith, R-Tex (my H1-B hero.) The article is accurate IMO.
Though the hearings revealed shockingly corrupt programs, the Washington Times and Atlanta Constitution were the only media outlets I could find that covered them. By contrast, when the high-tech industry would release pro-H1-B PR, the major papers would usually print it with little change.
I was then exchanging info on H1-B with a reporter from the New York Times, and I e-mailed:
I thought the NEW YORK Times was the paper of record.
Do we have to go to the Moonies to get the truth now?
[No Reply]
The American establishment - press, government, business, education, etc. LOVES mass immigration. Congress in particular makes big money from immigration, and both parties support it fervently. (I don't.)
( #reply-19088855
gives a hint of other problems that giving away - "globalizing" - our software industry can cause.)
Though the Wash. Times article concentrates on more serious problems, my personal favorite from the hearings was:
Nor is the problem of paper review limited to the H and L nonimmigrant categories. The P-3 category, designed to bring artists and entertainers to the United States for performances, is also subject to abuse. Embassy New Delhi recently reported that an intensive scrutiny of the bona fides of P-3 petitions forwarded to their post revealed that 40% of the petitions contained information that was not credible. Since beginning their review of promoter credentials, P-3 petitions in New Delhi have plummeted 86% from the same period last year, from 2016 to 278.
Apparently these artistes do not perform well under pressure. They are not going to "sing for their supper" before some American bureaucrat.
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Abuses Reported in Visa Program for Skilled Workers
BY TIMOTHY BURN, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 6, 1999--A visa program that allows skilled technology workers into the United States is being abused by Chinese smugglers, Russian organized-crime figures and others who are crowding the system with fraudulent claims.
The program, which grants temporary visas to skilled foreigners, was expanded last year after technology executives convinced Congress and President Clinton that their industries were in dire need of more talent.
The new law increased the cap on the number of so-called H-1B visas issued over the next three years from 65,000 to 115,000 each year. The increase is temporary, but industry groups said they may ask to have the increases extended.
Now, government officials and immigration experts say many of those extra visas are being swept up by scores of sham companies overseas and in the United States that supply doctored documents to would-be immigrants.
In one instance, the U.S. consulate in Madras, India, could only verify the authenticity of 45 percent of some 3,200 visa applications.
The problem, they say, is rampant in both the H-1B visa program and the L-1 visa program, which allows employees of multinational corporations to transfer to offices in the United States.
``Attempts to falsify, alter or counterfeit U.S. visas or passports, or obtain genuine documents by fraudulent means are a constant problem, both within the United States and overseas,'' Jacquelyn L. Williams-Bridgers, the State Department's inspector-general, told the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration and claims yesterday.
John Ratigan, a retired consular officer and immigration consultant, told the panel that the H-1B and L-1 visa categories have experienced fraud because U.S. businesses increasingly view the programs as ``prime people movers.''
``In China, the method of operation has remained fairly consistent for more than a decade,'' he said. Small, sham companies are set up with nothing more than post office boxes or a fictitious address to help Chinese citizens obtain falsified documents for entry into this country.
He said the problem is just as pervasive in Russia.
``Because many of the Russian underworld figures had ties to major business corporations, it was also possible to use those corporations and their U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries as the source of petitions and visas for some Russians,'' said Mr. Ratigan.
H-1B visa fraud also is taking place in India, the dominant source of skilled immigrants for U.S. information-technology companies.
The U.S. consulate in Chennai, India, for example, has stepped up investigations for the Immigration and Naturalization Service on suspicious H-1B claims. Last year, Chennai issued over 20,000 H-1B visas, more than any other overseas post.
The consulate and the INS examined 3,247 cases and were able to verify the authenticity of only 45 percent, said Jill M. Esposito, a State Department consular officer. Investigators confirmed that 21 percent of the Chennai visa applications were fraudulent.
While many foreign workers holding H-1B or L-1 visas are skilled professionals, thousands of marginally qualified applicants are also finding their way into this country through these two visa classes, said Ms. Esposito.
To illustrate her point, she said consular officers in Guangzhou, China, randomly chose 10 L-1 petitions that had been approved by the INS to verify the information on the applicants' visa petitions.
Of the 10 petitions, only two were from real companies whose applicants were actual managers. Three of the remaining eight petitions came from companies that existed only on paper.
The nine immigration experts and officials who testified before the panel also painted a picture of a government bureaucracy that is understaffed and ill-equipped to deal with the problem.
Ms. Williams-Bridgers said her office has been fighting the visa-fraud problem for several years. But its efforts have been weakened by understaffing, lack of training and a shortage of management, she told the panel.
``One of the questions we need to ask is whether there are ways to eliminate structural vulnerabilities in these visa categories, while (meeting) the real needs of legitimate companies,'' said Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican and Judiciary immigration and claims subcommittee chairman.
washtimes.com
[Original link, not functional now]
commdocs.house.gov
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