Complete Idiot's Guide to How the H1B Scam Works

1. Flood the Zone with Fake Petitions

H1Bs are handed out in a lottery system. Fake shell companies and H1B Body Shops flood the lottery system with fake petitions. To be able to apply for a petition, you have to have a candidate you are willing to sponsor. So they recruit a bunch of Indians from India and fake their resumes, credentials, and education to make it seem like they are these super qualified super geniuses. The more fake candidates they can petition, the higher % chances these shells and body shops win an H1B approval in the lottery.

Think of it like buying a bunch of raffle tickets.

2. Sell the Fake

Now these shell companies and H1B Body Shops have a bunch of Indians who are now H1B visa holders. But, it is illegal to "keep them on the bench". They need jobs.

But, these new H1B holders are not qualified since their resumes and credentials are 100% bullshite. How do they get them jobs? There are many avenues.

Proxy interviews are a big one. They will attempt to get these candidates through having someone else do the interview for them, or coach the H1B through an interview.

Green Card Managers on the other side is a pathway. More on this later.

If all else fails, they will send the H1B to a boot camp style crash course to where they learn just enough of something like Java to be able to do the bare minimum to fool an interviewer.

3. Wage Arbitrage to Enrich the Shells and Body Shops

Once successfully hired by a company, these H1Bs are technically not employees of the company. They are still employees of the shell company or H1B body shop. These shells/body shops will pay the H1B usually the legal minimum, something like $25 an hour. BUT, they will bill the company on a C2C contract for, lets say, $125 an hour. The shell company/body shop pockets the $100 difference.

Remember the green card manager I discussed in point 2? They are usually in on this scam. They will hire these fradulent candidates from the shells/body shops, and in return get kicked back a percentage of the wage arbitrage. There was a Wal Mart VP making $30k a day in kickbacks.

This is how companies end up getting flooded with Indians and become majority Indian. The kickback relationship between the shells/body shops and the Indians inside the companies doing C2C contract business with them. And why Americans get laid off. They need to drive out Americans to make room for more Indian H1Bs to get more kickbacks.

4. Protect the Scam

At some point it will become clear that the H1B workers on the C2C contracts are incompetent and incapable of doing the job they are there for. But, if the H1B C2C worker loses their job or does not have their contract renewed, the wage arbitrage and kickback cashflow ends.

This is where the green card managers come into play again. They pull out all the stops to protect these H1B C2C workers from accountability and oversight. They will make excuses, give them good performance reviews even though they suck, and even promote them (promotion = higher bill rate = more wage arbitrage money).

This is how these incompetent workers seem to rise through the ranks even though they suck at their jobs.