Mahvash Siddiqui, an Indian-origin US diplomat who served at the Chennai consulate two decades ago, has detailed how junior officers repeatedly flagged visa system games played by IT conglomerates like Cognizant, TCS, and Satyam to senior management. According to an article she penned for the Center for Immigration Studies, these warnings were systematically dismissed by executive leadership who focused on bilateral commercial ties rather than individual credential scrutiny.
The former adjudicator described a 'Business Express' program that allowed fast-track processing for major tech firms, including foreign entities like Infosys and Wipro, as well as US-based corporations such as Microsoft and General Electric. Siddiqui noted that while these companies received 'top-brass' handling, the corporate facade collapsed during basic technical interviews. She recalled that many applicants lacked formal computer science degrees, relying instead on brief training modules or elementary graphic design courses to pass as qualified professionals.
Siddiqui pointed to three specific structural failures: fake degrees, the abuse of B1/B2 tourist visas to transition workers into H-1B roles, and third-party corruption. She alleged that corrupt HR handlers monetized access to the fast-track program, charging underqualified individuals illicit fees. 'A consular adjudicator sitting at the visa window conducts tens of thousands of interviews per year,' she wrote, emphasizing that these officers developed a refined ability to detect rehearsed lines and fraud patterns that senior administrators, focused on throughput metrics, failed to recognize.
The diplomat accused the consular chief in Delhi of enforcing a managerial culture of 'issue, issue, issue,' prioritizing volume over rigorous adjudication. She stated that formal fraud referrals regarding Cognizant and other partners were repeatedly ignored, allowing corrupt corporate entities to maintain an unimpeded pipeline into the US labor market. 'Had leadership backed the officers on the line... decades of systemic visa abuse, wage suppression, and immigration fraud could have been prevented,' Siddiqui argued.
These revelations come as the US Department of Labor moves to suspend Cognizant from filing new Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) applications. The suspension is part of a broader probe into alleged visa fraud within the IT sector. While the Department of Labor has not yet responded to Siddiqui’s specific historical claims, the current investigation signals a potential shift in how corporate visa applications are scrutinized in the coming months.