According to a federal agency, the US H-1B Visa Lottery System resulted in fraud and abuse.

Washington: A government body reported on Friday that the computerised drawing of lots used to choose successful H-1B applicants each year has led to abuse of the system and a substantial spike in fraudulent activities.
In an extraordinary announcement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) claimed on Friday that it had already conducted substantial fraud investigations, refused, and revoked applications based on evidence from the Financial Year 2023 and Financial Year 2024 H-1B cap seasons.

According to USCIS, recommendations to law enforcement for criminal prosecution are now being made.

The H-1B programme is a crucial component of both the immigration system and the economy of our country, and the USCIS is dedicated to upholding the law and assisting in meeting the constantly changing demands of the US labour market, it added.

"We are working on a future H-1B modernization rule that will propose, among other enhancements, strengthening the H-1B registration process to prevent abuse and fraud in the H-1B registration system," it continued.

In comparison to previous years, a large rise in registrations was reported by USCIS during the registration process for the FY 2024 H-1B quota.

According to the report, this year's computer-generated lottery for H-1B visas received 780,884 applications, compared to 4,83,927 in 2023, 3,01,447 in 2022, and 2,74,237 in 2021.

The total number of registrations, the number of registrations submitted on behalf of beneficiaries with multiple registrations, and the number of registrations submitted on behalf of particular beneficiaries with only one registration all increased.

According to the report, from 165,180 registrations the year before and 90,143 the year before, more persons this year registered under several applications, bringing the total to 408,891.

The federal agency issued a warning that if an applicant or firm provided false information, it would find the registration to have been improperly submitted and would disqualify the potential petitioner from submitting a petition based on that registration.

If a registration had a fraudulent attestation and was thus submitted improperly, the USCIS may reject the petition or withdraw the acceptance of the petition.

According to the statement, "Moreover, USCIS may also report the person or business who filed a fraudulent attestation to appropriate federal law enforcement agencies for investigation and subsequent action, as warranted."

American tech workers claim they have been talking about this fraud for the previous few years as part of their campaign against H-1B visas.

"The Trump administration had suggested fixing the H-1B lottery by giving preference to applicants with the highest salaries. Because you filed a lawsuit against the government, you now have to deal with the fraud you are blaming "In a statement, it said