United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has planned to conduct 25,000 onsite visits to companies that have hired workers on H1B visas this fiscal year. The move is a part of the on going investigation by USCIS to uncover H1B fraud and reduce and the abuse of the program.

Last year USCIS had conducted 5,191 inspections of companies hiring H-1B workers. The number this year has increased almost 5 times becasue of greater resistance by opponents of the H1B program who are lobbying the government for greater enforcement. In a letter to Senator Grassley, Director of USCIS Alejandro Mayorkas has stated that the inspections will be carried out to validate the H1B petitions. During these onsite visits, USCIS will be checking for the following things:

• if the location of the employment exists
• if the H1B visa holder is actually employed at the location
• if the H1B visa holder is performing the jobs described in the H1B application
• and if the H1B visa holder is being paid the salary stated in the application.

USCIS is aware of H1B visa applicants that are on bench and only start working when they are able to find a project/contract. This is against the H1B visa rules and the government is taking a tough stance against this practice. Earlier this year 11 H1B visa holder that had applied with fraudulent documents were arrested by the goverenment. Legal action was also taken against the company that had sponsored these H1B workers. This latest move by the government is a continuation of its’ effort to curb the abuse of the H1B visa program.

Further reading: The Truth About Indian IT Consulting Firms Revealed