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Two New Jersey residents were arrested May 13 for their alleged roles in a scheme that fraudulently used the H1-B visa program to reduce skilled labor costs. Hiral Patel, 32, and Shikha Mohta, 31, both of Jersey City, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to bring in and harbor aliens and to obstruct justice.
Patel and Mohta were both employees of SCM Data and MMC Systems, which offered consultants to clients in need of IT support. Both companies recruited foreign nationals, often student visa holders or recent college graduates, and sponsored them for H-1B visas. The two could be each sentenced for five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Patel, Mohta and other conspirators recruited foreign workers with purported IT expertise who sought work in the United States. The conspirators then sponsored the foreign workers’ H1-B visas with the stated purpose of working for SCM Data and MMC Systems’ clients throughout the United States. When submitting the visa paperwork to the DHS, the conspirators falsely represented that the foreign workers had full-time positions and were paid an annual salary, as required to secure the H-1B visas, a press release from Paul J. Fishman, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey said.
Contrary to these representations and in violation of the H-1B program, Patel, Mohta and others paid the foreign workers only when they were placed at a third-party client who entered into a contract with SCM Data or MMC Systems.
In some instances, Patel, Mohta and others generated false payroll records to create the appearance that the foreign workers were paid full-time wages. On multiple occasions the conspirators required workers to pay SCM Data or MMC Systems their gross wages in cash. This scheme provided Patel, Mohta and others with a labor pool of inexpensive, skilled foreign workers who could be used on an “as needed” basis, the press release said.
The scheme was profitable because it required minimal overhead, and SCM Data and MMC Systems could charge significant hourly rates for the foreign workers’ services. The conspirators earned a substantial profit margin when a foreign worker was assigned to a project and incurred few costs when a foreign worker was without billable work.
The post 2 IT Company Employees Arrested For H1B Visa Fraud appeared first on News India Times.
