Former US Rep and economist Dr Dave Brat trained the guns at India over the H-1B visa program and said that while the national cap for H-1B is 85,000, one Indian district got 220,000 H-1B visas which is 2.5 times the limit. “When you hear H-1B, think of your family, because these fraudulent visas just stole their future,” Dr Brat said, appearing on Steve Bannon’s podcast, adding that China contributes only 12% to the H-1B program. In 2024, India’s Chennai consulate reportedly processed roughly 220,000 H-1B visas and 140,000 H-4 dependent visas.
All eyes on Chennai consulate after US diplomat’s major expose
US diplomat Mahvash Siddiqui, an Indian-origin US Foreign Service Officer, called out the industrialized fraud in the H-1B visa program as she recounted her experience at the Chennai consulate in India 20 years ago. Siddiqui revealed a shocking figure and claimed that 80-90% of the H-1B visas from India are fake — either they have fake degrees or some other forged documents or they are not highly skilled as to be deserving an H-1B visa.Siddiqui said she was posted to the Chennai consulate from 2005 to 2007 when she adjudicated at least 51,000 H-1B visas. The Chennai consulate processed applications from four regions: Hyderabad, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, she said, adding that Hyderabad was the most concerning as Hyderabad’s Ameerpet had shops not only consulting candidates on visa but providing them with forged documents — be it an educational certificate or a marriage certificate. Siddiqui said she and the team she was working with quickly learned the fraud pattern and flagged it to the administration but there was a lot of political pressure. And their anti-fraud drive was called a ‘rogue operation’. Siddiqui claimed many politicians were involved in running the operation and there was pressure on them not to pursue their investigation.
