The Recent Debate
There has been a strong debate on the H-1B visa program utilized by U.S. companies hiring skilled foreign workers. Public attention to the issue was recently heightened after comments made by Indian-American diplomat Mahvash Siddiqui, who claimed that many Indian applicants secure H-1B visas with fake educational documents and through political influence.
Statements Made by Mahvash Siddiqui
Siddiqui served as a U.S. diplomat at the Chennai Consulate from 2005 to 2007. Speaking on a recent podcast, she said the U.S. still lacks workers with skills in science, technology, and engineering-and Indian professionals help fill that gap.
She further claimed that 80–90% of H-1B visas given to Indians during her tenure had fake degrees or document falsification. She said many of the applicants did not have the required skills. According to her, she sent a report on these issues to the then Foreign Secretary, but no investigation followed due to political pressure. She also claimed that a number of political leaders were involved in blocking any action.
Conditions at the Chennai Consulate
Siddiqui said the Chennai Consulate issued over 51,000 non-immigrant visas during her tenure and a sizeable portion of them were H-1B visas. The consulate serviced applications from Hyderabad, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
She said she observed serious problems, especially with the applications coming from Hyderabad. She described widespread fraud and bribery in India, adding that as an Indian-American, it was not particularly easy to speak publicly about this. She said that when American officials conducted job interviews, many candidates did not appear. When the process was handled by Indian officials, some accepted bribes and approved unqualified applicants. Visa Number Concerns from Chennai Former U.S. representative and economist Dr. Dave Brat also made comments on the H-1B visa program during a podcast. He raised concerns that over 200,000 H-1B visas reportedly originated from Chennai alone. He referred to the fact that India gets a lion's share of H-1B visas, nearly 71%, compared with China at 12%. He mentioned that the legal annual limit is 85,000 H-1B visas. He asked how Chennai alone could account for 220,000 visas, which is a factor of 2.5 times the limit established by the U.S. Congress. He said such numbers raise clear concerns about possible fraud.
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