<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER  No. 1929 -- 10/14/2008 >>>>>

Yet again, the federal government found widespread fraud in the H-1B
program, and yet again the mainstream media and most politicians are
surprised there is so much fraud. An editorialist for FierceCIO said that
"The report is quite shocking", while Ron Hira, an assistant professor of
public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and co-author of
Outsourcing America, said he was stunned by the size of the problem.

I disagree with the widespread contention that there is something
"shocking" or "stunning" about the amount of fraud in the H-1B program. The
only surprise is that anyone who is familiar with the program is surprised!

The recent study is nothing new -- for instance in the year 2000 the GAO
released a study called "Better Controls Needed to Help Employers and
Protect Workers". Going back a little further, in 1994 the Department of
Labor wrote a report titled "Foreign Labor Certification Programs: The
System is Broken and Needs to be Fixed". A watered down final version of
the DOL report was published in 1996 that lacked some of the punch of the
1994 version but was still quite damning. Throughout the 1990's there were
numerous studies that discussed the widespread fraud (Bartlett and Steele
for example), and there were several Congressional testimonies that
confirmed the fraud. Even as recently as 2006 a group of activists
testified before Congress, but of course everything they said fell on deaf
ears.

One thing for sure is that nobody should be surpised or shocked by the
newest study.

http://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/pre_1998/06-96-002-03-321s.htm
1996 report

http://www.gao.gov/archive/2000/he00157.pdf
GAO report


U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) should be thanked for urging that this
investigation be done, but he said something that may seem innocent at
first, but is very disturbing upon closer examination:

   Grassley -- who is an ardent H-1B critic -- said that the USCIS
   report "validates the major flaws" in the visa program. "It's
   unacceptable," he added, "that these fraudulent activities are
   slipping through the cracks when there is so much legitimate
   demand for H-1B visas."

So just what legitimate demands for H-1B visas is Grassley talking about?
Let's ponder that question.

Keep in mind that what is legitimate is not necessarily ethical or moral --
it just means that if you follow the law you won't end up in jail (so far
nobody has ended up in jail because they violated H-1B laws but several
unscrupulous employers have paid some small fines). In my opinion
approximately 99% of the visas issued are ethically, morally, or legally
fraudulent so the study is an underestimate.

If Grassley wants to only allow legitimate visa applications let's see just
what that means in practical terms.

The USCIS claims that they found 13% of their sample to be fraudulent, and
another 7% to have technical violations. That means that about 20% have
some kind of problem, and 80% conform closely enough to the loophole laden
law that they are "legitimate", according to Sen. Grassley. 

It's not clear if the H-1B petition they found for the washing machine
repairman in the laundry was a technical or fraudulent violation. What is
clear is that nobody has been paying attention because this is nothing new.
H-1Bs are used for all sorts of dubious positions, like the ones at
California Pizza Kitchen or the ones at McDonald's. Reporters could have
found this out in 1999 when I put my first LCA database online. Duh!

Before you start rejoicing that Grassley is calling for better enforcement,
and the USCIS said they are going to get tougher, let's look at some
numbers.

Most of the 7% technical violations are for things like not filling a blank
on one of the forms with correct information or they could even be typos.
Employers may also be fudging the rules on prevailing salaries but it was
done in a way that isn't a violation of the law. Most of these types of
errors can be cleared if employers file an appeal, and appeals are usually
approved. Since these visas would probably get approved anyway, we can just
ignore them from the count. From a practical point of view, enforcing these
types of violations won't help Americans to get jobs. 

The 13% that are remaining were found to be fraudulent, which means that
somebody involved in filling out the forms was willfully deceitful. These
errors can't be cleared on appeal, so assuming the employer is caught, the
visas would be rejected -- but Americans still won't get these jobs and
here is why:

Thirteen percent may sound like a large number, but it only represents
11,050 of the 85,000 visas approved. In the fiscal year of 2008 the USCIS
got 150,000 petitions for H-1B in the first two days of filing. We don't
know how many total petitions they received because they haven't done an
annual report since 2004. Speaking of law breakers -- the USCIS is required
by law to publish their annual report, which they haven't done since 2004.

Assuming that 13% of those 150,000 filed petitions were fraudulent, then
there would be 130,500 valid petitions to take the place of the 11,050
bogus petitions. Even assuming that all 20% of the petitions were rejected,
there would still be 120,000 potential H-1B visas that could be issued. In
total, the fraud is like a drop in the bucketcompared to the huge numbers
of foreigners who want to use H-1B visas.

Just FYI -- in 2004 there were 312,000 petitions filed. If 13% of them were
rejected, then there would be 271,440 that would be legally available!

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/H1B04Annual_08_7.pdf

In conclusion, what Grassley is saying is that as long as the H-1B visa
petitions meet legal standards everything is A-OK. The problem is that the
H-1B program is full of loopholes so the fraud that occurs isn't that much
of a factor in terms of American job destruction. In practical terms that
still means that 85,000 Americans a year will lose their jobs to H-1B visa
holders with or without enforcement of the law. Enforcement of the H-1B
regulations accomplishes nothing in terms of opening up jobs for Americans!

H-1B is a program that is morally and ethically bankrupt. The only way to
eliminate the fraud is to abolish H-1B. Reforms, like the one proposed by
Grassley and Durbin, or better enforcement like what the USCIS suggests,
will have no net effect on the labor market.

I conclude this newsletter from a quote from Norm Matloff:

http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2008/10/13/dr-norm-matloff-h-1b-fraud-still-d
warfed-by-legal-abuse/

   I don’t know how to say this any more clearly or loudly, but once
   again, everyone: THE FRAUD ISSUE IS IRRELEVANT. It will be used by
   the industry lobbyists for their benefit, to prevent Congress from
   taking real action. This includes the excellent Durbin/Grassley
   bill; if the bill is addressed at all by Congress, the good,
   loophole-plugging, parts will be deleted, leaving only the parts
   dealing with fraud, which are of very little value.


**************
Articles Used
**************

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&ar
ticleId=9116758
Widespread problems, fraud found in H-1B program


http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2008/db2008108_844949
.htm?chan=rss_topEmailedStories_ssi_5
High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud


http://www.fiercecio.com/story/time-reevaluate-h1b-visas/2008-10-12
Time to reevaluate H1B Visas


http://www.examiner.com/a-1486221~The_Feds_crack_down_on_visa_fraud__finally
.html
The Feds crack down on visa fraud, finally


http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20081013.065213&ti
me=07%2008%20PDT&year=2008&public=0
Outsourcing Expert Reacts to Report on H-1B Visa Fraud


http://www.sunjournal.com/story/286930-3/National/Fraud_plagues_work_visa_pr
ogram/
Fraud plagues work visa program

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&ar
ticleId=9116758

Widespread problems, fraud found in H-1B program

U.S. study finds incidents of forged documents, fake degrees, 'shell'
companies
Patrick Thibodeau
October 9, 2008 (Computerworld) An internal report by the U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS) examining the H-1B visa program has found
evidence of forged documents and fake degrees, and even "shell" companies
giving addresses of fake locations.

The USCIS report, released Wednesday by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa),
indicates that serious violations of the H-1B program by employers are so
common that one in five visas are affected by either fraud or "technical
violations." This means that potentially thousands of employers may be
violating the rules, some willfully.

Employers didn't pay prevailing wages in some cases and benched employees
when there wasn't work, while some employees worked at jobs that differed
from what the application claimed they would be doing. In one bizarre case,
an H-1B holder was found "working in a laundromat doing laundry and
maintaining washing machines," the report said.

"This report validates the major flaws in the H-1B visa program," Grassley
said in a statement. "It's unacceptable that these fraudulent activities
are slipping through the cracks when there is so much legitimate demand for
H-1B visas."

The 15-page report summarizes findings and doesn't detail the employers who
apply for the H-1B temporary work visas. Although the H-1B employers have
been cited and fined from time to time for violations of the program, this
broad examination is the first of its kind.

"Until we make a conscious effort to close the loopholes, we're going to
see continued abuse where people coming to this country on H-1B visas are
working at laundromats," Grassley said.

Investigators used a random sample of 246 cases drawn from a pool of nearly
100,000. Documents were reviewed and H-1B employers and workers were
interviewed. The report's investigators discovered most of the problems
during visits to work sites. Out of that number, 51 of the cases had
problems.

The report's authors wrote that their confidence in their findings is 95%,
and that the results represent a "significant vulnerability."

"USCIS is making procedural changes, which will be described in a
forthcoming document," the report concluded.

Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester
Institute of Technology and co-author of Outsourcing America, said he was
stunned by the size of the problem.

"It is clear that oversight, including an auditing function, are
desperately needed to clean up the corruption," Hira said. "But we
shouldn't forget that the major problems with the H-1B program are caused
by massive loopholes that allow firms to legally pay below-market wages and
displace and undercut American workers. Those wouldn't show up in this
investigation because they are entirely legal and wouldn't be considered
fraudulent or a violation." Grassley and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have
been ardent critics of the H-1B program, pushing for reforms and tougher
enforcement.

The tech industry wants an increase in the H-1B program, now capped at
85,000 annually, with 20,000 visas set aside for graduate degrees. But much
of the lobbying for the increase came last spring, before the full weight
of the current economic crisis.

Congress has not taken action on that legislation, and efforts to increase
the H-1B cap have so far failed as well.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2008/db2008108_844949
.htm?chan=rss_topEmailedStories_ssi_5

High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud
A study finds that 13% of the visa petitions for U.S. employers to bring in
skilled foreign workers are fraudulent
By Moira Herbst

A report released Oct. 8 by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services
(USCIS) reveals that 13% of petitions filed for H-1B visas on behalf of
employers are fraudulent. Another 7% contain some sort of technical
violations.

The study, released to members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee,
marks the first time the agency, part of the Homeland Security Dept., has
documented systematic problems with the controversial program. Technology
companies, in particular, have come to rely on the H-1B visa program to
bring in skilled foreign workers to fill jobs that employers claim can't be
filled with U.S. candidates. Tech companies like Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft
(MSFT), and Google (GOOG) have pushed to get more visas, claiming that a
shortage of skilled workers is hampering U.S. competitiveness. Microsoft
Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates has twice testified in front of Congress
on the issue.

Critics say H-1Bs help U.S. companies replace American workers with less
costly foreign workers. "The report makes it clear that the H-1B program is
rife with abuse and misuse," says Ron Hira, assistant professor of public
policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. "It shows the desperate
need for an auditing system." However, both Presidential candidates,
Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), have said
they support expanding the program.

Program Abuses Alleged
A USCIS spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. The
report's conclusion states: "Given the significant vulnerability, USCIS is
making procedural changes, which will be described in a forthcoming
document." A spokeswoman, Beth Pellett Levine, says Senator Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa), a longtime critic of the H-1B program, is drafting a letter to
USCIS in response to the study.

The H-1B visa program has become increasingly controversial in recent years
as groups such as the Programmers Guild and WashTech, which represent U.S.
tech workers, allege it is being abused, resulting in mistreatment of
foreign workers, wage depression, and the displacement of U.S. workers. The
program was originally set up to allow companies in the U.S. to import the
best and brightest in technology, engineering, and other fields when such
workers are in short supply in America. But data released this year by the
federal government show that offshore outsourcing firms, particularly from
India, dominated the list of companies that were awarded H-1B visas to
employ workers in the U.S. (BusinessWeek, 3/6/08) in 2007. Indian
outsourcers such as Infosys (INFY), Wipro (WIT), and Tata (TCS.NS)
accounted for nearly 80% of the visa petitions approved last year for the
top 10 participants in the program.

There is also evidence that workers on H-1B visas are being mistreated. In
a pending case (BusinessWeek, 1/31/08), H-1B workers for State Farm
Insurance allege they were underpaid.

Critics say such instances of abuse represent the tip of an iceberg of
deeper problems with the visa program. Academics and U.S. tech worker
advocates point out the requirement that even employers who abide by the
law--for example by paying the required "prevailing wage"--are able to
underpay workers . "We shouldn't forget that the major problem with the
H-1B program are caused by massive loopholes that allow firms to legally
pay below-market wages and force US workers to train foreign replacements,"
says Hira. "Those wouldn't show up in this investigation because they are
entirely legal." Hira says that a bill proposed by Grassley and Senator
Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) bill in 2007, S. 1035, would address both fraud and
legal loopholes in the program.

Companies Not Named
The USCIS report, called H-1B Benefit Fraud & Compliance Assessment, is
based on a sample of 246 H-1B petitions. It does not name companies
involved in the study. The report says that 80% of the fraud or technical
violations were uncovered during site visits.

Fraudulent cases include instances in which the visa worker was not working
or had never worked at the specified location on the application. Technical
violations involved situations in which the worker was paid at or below the
prevailing wage, which companies are required by law to pay.

In other cases, the job duties were significantly different from the
position listed on the visa petition. This could involve misrepresenting
the skill set required or the location of the job. Accounting, human
resources, business analyst, sales, and advertising occupations are more
likely than other categories to involve fraud, according to the study.
Other areas in which violations were found include computer-related
occupations, and art and managerial jobs. "Until we make a conscious effort
to close the loopholes, we're going to see continued abuse where people
coming to this country on H-1B visas are working at Laundromats," said
Grassley in a statement. He was referring to situations in which companies
misrepresent what type of work the visa holder will do.

In the study, visa workers with only bachelor's degrees were subject to
higher fraud or technical violation rates (31%) than those with graduate
degrees (13%). Fraud and violations were more common for companies
employing 25 or fewer employees and with annual gross income of less than
$10 million.

Herbst is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in New York.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


http://www.fiercecio.com/story/time-reevaluate-h1b-visas/2008-10-12

Time to reevaluate H1B Visas
By judi
Created Oct 12 2008 - 4:10pm

The high tech community has been lobbying not only to maintain the H1B visa
program but to expand it on the premise that employers cannot find enough
qualified American workers to meet their needs. This issue of Fierce CIO
reports on word that federal government has found that employers have been
abusing the system, engaging in fraud and even paying foreign workers less
than they were entitled to receive.

The report is quite shocking. Investigators found forged documents, fake
degrees and companies giving fake addresses to obtain the permits. The U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services report was released by Sen. Chuck
Grassley (IA), a critic of the visa system.

"This report validates the major flaws in the H1B visa program that we have
been discussing for some time," Grassley said. "Until we make a conscious
effort to close the loopholes, we're going to see continued abuse. This
report is proof that reform must come sooner rather than later. The program
ought to operate the way Congress intended so qualified, high-tech American
workers aren't left behind."

The findings confirm the worst fears of American IT workers and their
advocates, who have long been opposed to the program and complained of
abuse by American companies.

There has to be some balance. There's no doubt some foreign workers help
fill the skill void, but gaming the system and engaging in fraud is
unacceptable.

When Congress returns in January, officials responsible for running the
system and employers abusing the process should be called on the carpet.
And with unemployment rising and layoffs predicted in the IT arena, there
should be a complete reevaluation of H1B visa program. It is certainly time
to institute more controls to make sure the program works as intended. It
also may be time take a second look at the current yearly limit, and see if
it is needed and if it should be scaled back. - Judi [1]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


http://www.examiner.com/a-1486221~The_Feds_crack_down_on_visa_fraud__finally
.html

Editorial 
The Feds crack down on visa fraud, finally
The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper
2008-07-14 07:00:00.0
Current rank: # 4,575 of 5,596

WASHINGTON -
Highly educated Americans with much-sought-after technical and scientific
skills have been complaining for years about not being able to find jobs or
being replaced by foreign workers who have come to this country on H-1B
visas (Congress authorizes only 65,000 H-1B visas annually, for hiring
foreign workers with skills that can’t be found here).

Turns out they were right. The Department of Labor has finally started
cracking down on law firms and corporations deliberately bypassing federal
laws aimed at protecting American workers from being displaced by
foreigners willing to work for much less.

When they apply for H-1B visas, U.S. companies must first certify that they
cannot find any qualified American applicants. But, as Chicago network
engineer David Huber discovered, the certification process can be rigged.
Huber, a University of Chicago graduate with NASA management experience,
had to train his own replacement at Commonwealth Edison. He claimed Chinese
nationals were given access to Commonwealth Edison data communication
switches controlling the Chicago electrical grid.

Huber told The Examiner that when he applied for a Cisco Systems job
advertised in the Chicago Tribune last year, he noticed that the contact
was not a Cisco hiring manager, but a lawyer working for the nation’s
largest immigration law firm, Fragomen, Del Ray, Bernsen & Loewy.

A subsequent Labor Department audit uncovered evidence that New York-based
Fragomen -- whose client list includes many Fortune 500 companies -- was
improperly advising clients to disqualify American candidates so they could
hire much cheaper foreign workers. In an unprecedented move, Labor
Department officials are now auditing all of Fragomen’s pending visa
applications.

The probe has been extended to San Francisco, where LawLogix was caught
red-handed submitting more than 100 fraudulent applications. The software
firm is now barred from submitting any applications for the next three
years. And after a video of Cohen & Grigsby lawyer Lawrence Lebowitz
brazenly telling clients that "our goal is clearly not to find a qualified
and interested U.S. worker" was posted on YouTube, Labor officials placed
the Pittsburgh law firm on "supervised recruitment" -- which means
heightened scrutiny for all future visa applications.

The displacement of highly qualified American scientific and technical
workers by foreign visa holders has gotten scant attention by the media,
which tend to focus on protecting illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities
like Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. The legal part of our broken
immigration system has gotten much less attention, which is why it may very
well pose as grave a threat to national security as porous borders.

Examiner 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20081013.065213&ti
me=07%2008%20PDT&year=2008&public=0

Mon Oct 13 07:08:41 2008 Pacific Time

      Outsourcing Expert Reacts to Report on H-1B Visa Fraud; Ron Hira,
Author of 'Outsourcing America,' Calls Program 'Thoroughly Corrupted'
       ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- A new report that
reveals a 20-percent violation rate in the nation's H-1B Visa program has
led to strong criticism of the system by outsourcing expert Ron Hira,
assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology
and author of "Outsourcing America."

       The H-1B program provides temporary work visas to skilled foreign
workers employed in the United States. Hira argues that loopholes and lack
of program oversight have allowed companies to misuse the H-1B system by
paying below-market wages to foreign guest workers and facilitating the
outsourcing of U.S. jobs overseas.

       "I'm stunned by the high incidence, nearly one in five, of obvious
fraud and serious violations in H1-B visas. That means that literally tens
of thousands of these visas have been granted under false pretenses. The
system has been thoroughly corrupted," notes Hira.

       "Where has the government been for the past 10 years? The H-1B
program has completely spun out of control and is in desperate need of
reform to ensure that both foreign and U.S. workers are treated fairly and
justly."

       The report, conducted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
in the Department of Homeland Security, found that one of the most common
incidences of fraud is companies paying below prevailing wages or not
paying workers at all.

       Hira has previously contended that numerous companies have
manipulated the H1-B program to facilitate their knowledge-transfer
operations to ship work overseas. Companies rotate in low-cost foreign
workers to learn U.S. workers' jobs, who then take the work back to their
home countries.

       Hira says that rather than providing firms with workers who possess
unique skills, the program is dominated by low-wage workers who provide
little added value-and instead of preventing outsourcing, the program is
speeding it up.

       "This report makes it clear that better oversight, including an
auditing function, is desperately needed to clean up the corruption," Hira
adds. "But we shouldn't forget that the major problems with the H-1B
program are caused by massive loopholes that allow firms to legally pay
below-market wages and force U.S. workers to train foreign replacements.
Those wouldn't show up in this investigation because they are entirely
legal and wouldn't be considered fraudulent or a violation. This report has
simply scratched the surface in identifying what's wrong with the H-1B
program."

       To view the full U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services report,
visit http://grassley.senate.gov/private/upload/100820081-3.pdf .

       - - - -

       CONTACT: William Dube, RIT News Services, 585-475-4954 or
wjduns@rit.edu

      Media Contact: See above.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/286930-3/National/Fraud_plagues_work_visa_pr
ogram/

Fraud plagues work visa program

By Matt Wickenheiser , Portland Press Herald
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
A federal program that allows skilled foreign nationals to work in this
country has such a high incidence of outright fraud that it has
"significant vulnerability," according to a new report from the Department
of Homeland Security.

Homeland Security found that 21 percent of all applications for H1B visas
were either fraudulent or contained technical violations. H1B visas allow
employers to bring in highly skilled workers such as engineers, computer
programmers, accountants and others.

"It's evident after reviewing the sample of H1B petitions and conducting
site visits to employers that there is a serious problem with outright
fraud in the visa program," said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "This
isn't an issue that was confined to the state of Maine. It is clearly a
nationwide (issue)."

Collins filed an amendment in last year's Appropriations Bill that required
Homeland Security to investigate the potential for H1B fraud. Her focus on
the issue was prompted by a 2006 investigative report by the Portland Press
Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

The newspaper found that dozens of high-tech staffing companies opened tiny
offices or leased cubicles in Maine and other rural states in 2004 and
early 2005 and filed immigration papers for thousands of foreigners who
were supposed to work here. In many cases, the companies' connection to
Maine was tenuous. In several instances, landlords had never heard of the
companies that called their buildings home on federal applications.

The H1B visa system is set up to augment the U.S. work force, bringing in
workers when similarly skilled Americans can't be found to take the
positions. The program is supposed to have checks built in so that these
positions are filled by Americans before foreign workers, and any fraud in
the system could short-circuit those safeguards - potentially taking
high-paying jobs away from U.S. workers.

In its investigation, Homeland Security looked at a sample of 246 employer
petitions for H1B foreign workers, out of a total of 96,827 petitions.

Investigators reviewed all the forms filed and conducted site visits. They
found "misrepresentations" - fraud - and "technical violations" - failure
to comply with laws where there was no evidence of willful fraud.

Fraud included:

• The business filing the applications to bring workers into the country
didn't, in fact, exist.

• The educational degrees or experience letters of the sought-after
foreign worker were fraudulent.


• Signatures had been forged on supporting documents.

• The foreign worker was performing duties other than those described on
the petitions.

"In one instance, the position described on the petition -- was that of a
business development analyst," according to the Homeland Security report.
"However, when (the department) conducted its review, the petitioner stated
the H1B beneficiary would be working in a laundry doing laundry and
maintaining washing machines."

Technical violations included instances where the employer required the
foreign worker to pay part of the filing fees for the visa or didn't pay
the foreign worker at least the prevailing wage for the job they were
doing. In other cases, the foreign worker was employed in a geographic
location other than what was applied for in the visa petition, or the
employer "benched" the foreign worker when work wasn't available. That term
means the foreign worker wasn't paid or was paid less than the full hours
specified on the petition.

"The findings of this new report reveal not only troubling evidence of
fraud in the H1B program but also the need for serious review and reform of
our immigration system as a whole," said Congressman Tom Allen, D-Maine, in
a written statement. "Lax oversight and enforcement of existing laws have
led to some unscrupulous companies abusing the system.

"Congress created this program to ensure that employers can fill positions
critical to their businesses, but not at the expense of American workers,"
he said. "The H1B must not be a license for unscrupulous employers to hire
foreign workers when there are willing and qualified Americans available."

According to the report, 13.4 percent of the cases investigated contained
fraud, and 7.3 percent had technical violations. Extrapolating that to the
all 96,827 petitions, about 20,000 of them may have some type of fraud or
violation, Homeland Security said.

In response to its findings, Homeland Security said it was clarifying
employers' responsibilities with regards to the H1B visa program. It said
it would apply greater scrutiny to petitions where fraud indicators are
present, and it would find some of those indicators using third-party,
independent information, the agency said.

Homeland Security said a law change may be needed to allow it to share more
information with the Department of Labor. Currently, Labor can't start an
investigation based on H1B violations uncovered by Homeland Security's
inspection of the applications.

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