Fraud ring busted

A MAJOR visa fraud ring, which operated from India to Jamaica to the United States, was busted by the US Embassy in Kingston in 2008.

According to a diplomatic cable from the embassy, its Fraud Prevention Unit cracked the ring after it found that several nationals of India were travelling to Kingston as the first step in their trip into America.

The embassy said the Fraud Prevention Unit probed 10 cases of Indian nationals applying for work visas (H-1B visas) who provided fraudulent employment documents from their supposed Jamaican employers.

"The pattern of these applications is familiar to Kingston: Third-country nationals, mostly from India, work in Jamaica for one to two years at a small business in computer programming or software engineering. Their friends and associates in the US find small companies owned by other Indian nationals to petition for them," said the cable.

According to the cable, the small companies in America "were well prepared to present the required legal, financial and business documents in order to appear legitimate". However, deeper investigation revealed a number of fraud indicators about these companies.

no direct link to clients

It was found that the companies had no direct relationship with many of their so-called clients. It was also discovered that most of the companies were owned by former work visa holders who had recently left their petitioning company.

"The majority of the employees at these companies are H-1B visa holders who have recently arrived from India," said the cable as it named several companies they suspected to be involved in the racket.

However, the embassy said its Fraud Prevention Unit had a problem proving its suspicions.

"The challenge in these cases lies in finding enough strong evidence of fraud to support a petition revocation process."

The cable said the Fraud Prevention Unit found that approximately 45 per cent of the non-immigrant visa cases it investigated in the first quarter of 2008 were fraudulent.