Tighter H-1B visa verification process recommended

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ The federal US agency that approves applications for the most sought-after H-1B visas needs to improve upon its current site visit verification program so as to prevent fraud in the visa system, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which conducts site visits to companies that hire foreign workers on H-1B visas as part of its objective to detect fraud, “could do more to prevent approving petitions for recurring violations and collaborate more with external stakeholders,” said the Office of Inspector General in its latest report released this week.

“The agency lacks performance measures to show how site visits contribute to improving the H-1B Program,” the Inspector General said. Without addressing the challenges, USCIS site visits do not fully safeguard the H-1B Program, and the agency misses opportunities to ensure funds are put to better use through more robust site visits, the inspector general report said.

According to the report, USCIS can approve more than 3,30,000 H-1B petitions each year and, as of April 2017, reported more than 6,80,000 approved and valid H-1B petitions.