'Ghost offices' of H-1B employers: Texas orders investigation into 3 businesses, asks them to prove they exist

Day after Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a freeze on H-1B hiring in state agencies and universities, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ordered an investigation into three North Texas businesses that hired H-1Bs, asking them to submit documents identifying all their employees and what they do.

These three companies are those which were called 'sham' by Texas journalist Sara Gonzales after she went to the official address of one of these companies and found an empty site. Another site visit led Gonzales to the private property of an Indian-origin man whose name was mentioned in the official record as the visa contact person. Paxton said he came across the reports that indicated that these businesses allegedly engaged in illegal activity to scam the H-1B visa program by setting up sham companies featuring websites advertising nonexistent products or services to Texas consumers only to sponsor H-1B visas.

"Any criminal who attempts to scam the H-1B visa program and use 'ghost offices' or other fraudulent ploys should be prepared to face the full force of the law," the AG said.

"Abuse and fraud within these programs strip jobs and opportunities away from Texas. I will use every tool available to uproot and hold accountable any individual or company engaged in these fraudulent schemes," Paxton said. The AG referred to Sara Gonzales' site visits and said they have to prove they provide any of the products or services that they advertised.

"Evidence has suggested that one of the businesses under investigation registered a single-family home as its office address and, on its website, listed its working address as that of an empty, unfinished building. These companies have allegedly sponsored numerous H-1B visas in recent years despite a lack of evidence that they actually provide any of the products or services advertised," Paxton said.

Which are the companies under investigation?

Paxton did not release the names of the three companies but he dropped hints that these include the two companies with Indian owners that Sara Gonzales 'exposed' in her viral video.

After the viral investigation, 3Bees Technologies updated its website and said that it is an IT consulting company and all the employees in 3Bees Technologies work at client site addresses, and no one works from 3Bees office address. In her video, Gonzales named two Indian-origin people: Hari Madiraju, whom she met as he was the contact person for Qubitz, and second was Vamshikrishna Vajinepally, associated with 3Bees Technologies.

False alarm?

Many experts pointed out that what Gonzales flagged as 'expose' is actually a false alarm, asthe H-1B visa program works through IT bodyshops, which are legal if they are not flouting any rules. These IT bodyshops hire H-1Bs and supply them to other companies.

Major H-1B crackdown in Texas

The H-1B hiring freeze for a year ordered by the Governor is limited in its scope as it applies only to agencies, departments, and universities that come under the governor's jurisdiction. It does not apply to private businesses, school districts, or local governments. But the investigation into three private businesses indicate the widening of the radar as far as H-1B abuses in Texas is concerned.