A recent Social Security Administration (SSA) report makes alchemists’ handbooks look scientifically reliable. The SSA report examined 200 H-1B visa holders to determine if the holders’ social security numbers were used in ways not connected with the petitioning company. The report suggests that 18% of H-1B Visa Holders have violated their H-1B status by using “unapproved employers” or by not posting any wages during a two year period.
Unfortunately, the report does not bother to look too deeply into the reasons for the disparities. The disparities could very easily be due to legitmate reasons. For example, H-1B visa holders are capable of switching employers within H-1B status, are capable of obtaining other immigration classifications that allow them to work for other employers, and are not required to have their salary come from an American employer. Additionally, what is to say that the petitioning employer didn’t change their employer tax identification number, or otherwise modify their business entity. All of these examples provide legitimate reasons for the disparities – yet the report didn’t bother to examine these possibilities.
Although research should be done into fraudulent H-1B petitions, it would have been prudent to do a bit more research before releasing the report. The SSA needs to know there is a fire before yelling it out loud.