How Indian-American US diplomat has exposed fraud in H-1B visa programme

Author's Summary

Indian-American diplomat Mahvash Siddiqui exposed widespread fraud in the H-1B visa program during her time at the US consulate in Chennai, alleging organized deception involving fake documents and political interference that allowed thousands of invalid visas. (152 characters)

Background on Mahvash Siddiqui

Mahvash Siddiqui served as a consular officer at the US consulate in Chennai from 2005 to 2007. She personally reviewed over 51,000 non-immigrant visas, mostly H-1B cases from regions like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and especially Hyderabad. In a recent podcast, she spoke personally, not for the US government, about detecting systemic issues.

Scale of Alleged Fraud

Siddiqui claimed 80-90% of H-1B visas for Indians involved fraud, including forged degrees, fake qualifications, and falsified paperwork where applicants lacked required skills. She described it as "industrial-scale fraud," echoed by former Congressman Dave Brat, with one Indian hub linked to 220,000 such visas. Practices extended to bribery, proxy interviewees, and managers trading jobs for salary cuts.

“We quickly learnt about the fraud. We wrote a dissent cable to the Secretary of State, detailing the systematic fraud we were uncovering. But due to political pressure from the top, our adjudication was overturned.”

Response and Pressures

Officers flagged the problems early, but their anti-fraud efforts were labeled a "rogue operation" and reversed amid political pressure to appease Indian politicians. No real changes followed despite warnings, as fraud and bribery became normalized in the process. Siddiqui noted applicants often dodged American interviewers or sent stand-ins.

“As an Indian-American, I hate to say this, but fraud and bribery are normalised in India.”

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Firstpost Firstpost — 2025-11-26

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