The US Citizenship and Immigration Service issued a stern warning, making an example out of Indian-origin Rambhai Patel who was recently sentenced to 20 months in jail in a visa fraud case. The agency said immigration fraud is not a ‘victimless crime’. The victims of such kinds of fraud are deserving people who don’t get the chance of entering the US because of the fraud. “Immigration fraud is not a victimless crime. It robs our nation’s lawful immigration system of valuable benefits intended for those who deserve and earn them,” USCIS said. “This alien from India will serve jail time, forfeit $850,000 he collected from his scheme, and face removal from the country,” the agency said.
Who is Rambhai Patel ? What visa fraud did he commit?
Indian-origin Rambhai Patel, 37, conspired with others to stage armed robberies at stores and restaurants so that the employees of the stores could claim a U visa as victims of violent crime. A U visa is available to victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and who have also been helpful to law enforcement. enforcement in the investigation of the particular crime. Patel took money from the so-called victims of such robberies. All these robberies were pre-planned and staged in front of the surveillance camera so that cops could be given the evidence. Patel pleaded guilty to the charges and has been sentenced to 20 months and eight days in prison. His prison sentence is followed by two years of supervised release and forfeiture of $850,000. After that, Patel would be deported to India. Patel was helped by co-cospirator Balwinder Singh in this scheme that they started since March 2023. They staged such robberies in at least 18 stores and five of them were in Massachusetts. At least two purported victim co-conspirators submitted U Visa applications based on being victims of the staged armed robberies.
