End Client letter Nightmare – H1B Consulting Companies Beware!

May 9 2016 – Today a company in the Silicon Valley was indicted for H1B Fraud, one of the issues which was mentioned in the complaint is that:

According to the indictment, the defendants submitted to the government, or caused to be submitted, H-1B visa application materials stating that the foreign workers named in the applications would be placed at specific companies in the United States.  However, according to the indictment, those companies either did not exist or never intended to receive the foreign workers named in the defendants’ applications.  For example, the indictment alleges that between approximately 2012 and 2013, DS Soft Tech and Equinett submitted approximately 22 separate petitions, signed under penalty of perjury, for H-1B workers to be placed at a company called SemSolar, Inc., operated by Kondamoori.  Although the petitions and supporting documents stated that the foreign workers would be placed at SemSolar to work on a specific software product, the defendants allegedly knew that SemSolar was not working on that product, the defendants did not intend to place any of the H-1B workers at SemSolar, and none of the workers who received H-1B visas through the defendants’ scheme ever worked at SemSolar.  Further, according to the indictment, between approximately 2010 and 2014, the defendants’ companies submitted more than one hundred additional fraudulent petitions for foreign workers to be placed at other purported companies.  The indictment alleges that through their ownership, direction, and control of DS Soft Tech and Equinett, the Guntipallys generated net profits from 2010 to 2014 of approximately $3.3 million and gross profits of approximately $17 million. 

The practice of using using end clients’ letters although not necessary is a product of the requirements of companies having to prove employer has actually have actual work for the H1B worker in order to get an H1B petition approved. This is explained in the 2010 Neufeld H1B Employer-Employee Memo.  In order to satisfy the requirement, many companies unfortunately seemed to have a solution by showing ‘fake’ end client letters or fake in house projects.

It is imperative that employers know that such practices are illegal and can result in no only denials of the H1B cases but also in criminal charges.  Avoiding fraud should be the ultimate goal of all employers.

If you are an H1B company or an H1B visa employee, please make sure you are not involved in any of such practices. If you need help to properly prepare your H1B cases, please call us at 510 7425887