STUDENTS ON OPT—BEWARE OF “EMPLOYERS” WILLING TO FILE A FRAUDULENT H-1B PETITION FOR YOU

David Ware & Associates, Immigration Law

With the implementation of the “cap-gap fix” last spring we’ve seen even more H-1B scam artists and “agencies” wreck students’ immigration and career plans by filing fraudulent or irresponsible H-1B petitions for them.  If a company does not really plan to employ you, and/or you do not plan to work for them, do not allow that company to file an H-1B petition for you. 

At worst an employer who files a petition knowing that it will never employ you has committed fraud and perhaps involved you in the fraud.  “Agencies” who file petitions for you hoping that they might eventually find work for you but knowing that they will “bench” you (place you in an “unproductive status”—which is prohibited by law) until then also violate the law and jeopardize your status.  Some students on OPT seem to have fallen into the trap of allowing such petitions to be filed for them while they search for the job they really want.  Don’t make this mistake.  It is a serious one.