US visa fraud: Former Congress candidate accused of manipulating H-1B system

Kandi Srinivasa Reddy, a former Congress candidate from Adilabad who contested the 2023 Telangana assembly elections, is facing serious allegations of rigging the US H-1B visa lottery system. 

According to an investigative report by Bloomberg, Reddy allegedly increased the odds for his staffing company clients by submitting multiple applications under different company names for the same individuals.

Reddy has denied the accusations, asserting that his actions are within legal bounds. "Filing multiple entries is legal," Reddy said, questioning why he was being singled out when 5,000 other companies reportedly employ similar strategies. 

He further clarified that his firms have secured only 302 visas out of 425,000 in the past five years.

An NRI entrepreneur, Reddy founded Cloud Big Data Technologies LLC in 2013. 

Bloomberg's report indicates that Reddy's firm, along with other entities he controls, submitted over 3,000 entries, acquiring a substantial number of H-1B visas since 2020. 

The H-1B visa lottery, a key aspect of US employment policy for foreign workers, allocates a limited number of visas to skilled individuals. In 2023, 446,000 applicants vied for just 85,000 available visas.

The Bloomberg investigation highlights how staffing and outsourcing companies, including those linked to Reddy, allegedly exploit the lottery system, potentially disadvantaging other U.S. businesses and skilled immigrants. 

The report claims Reddy's companies, such as Machine Learning Technologies LLC, often submitted duplicate applications under various names with overlapping addresses.

The report also reveals that over 11,600 visas were awarded to multinational outsourcing companies and 22,600 to IT staffing firms, suggesting widespread exploitation of the H-1B visa program. 

According to Bloomberg, Reddy's firms rented out H-1B workers on contracts to major corporations like Meta Platforms Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc, collecting 20% to 30% of the workers' pay. 

These practices, advertised online, imply that Reddy's companies could earn up to $15,000 or more per worker annually.

A report by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) last year described a scheme involving 13 related companies allegedly collaborating to manipulate the lottery system. 

While the USCIS report does not name the companies, Bloomberg claims that the details match visa data linked to Reddy. 
Neither USCIS nor Reddy's representatives have confirmed or denied these connections.

"In the 2020 lottery, Reddy's Cloud Big Data submitted the names of some 288 employees. 

At the same time, a dozen other companies Reddy controlled — companies with similar-sounding names, similar-looking websites, and overlapping mailing addresses — submitted many of the same workers' names, USCIS officials determined. In all, his companies entered the lottery more than 3,000 times," Bloomberg reported.

A TOI report quoted Lucas Garritson, a Texas lawyer representing Reddy, as saying that some of the companies' visas were challenged by the USCIS for alleged lottery system abuse. 

However, he noted that the agency had not followed proper procedures to prohibit such activities and lacked proof of any rule violations by Reddy's companies.

Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/latest-updates/us-visa-fraud-former-congress-candidate-accused-of-manipulating-h-1b-system/articleshow/112215946.cms