Visa Fraud: Wright State University’s Board of Trustees Admitted to H1B Visa Fraud Violations

<h2>Wright State University Agrees to Pay Government &dollar;1 Million for Visa Fraud<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>DAYTON – Wright State University’s Board of Trustees has accepted responsibility for visa fraud offenses on behalf of the university and agreed to pay the federal government &dollar;1 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Benjamin C&period; Glassman&comma; United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio&comma; and Steve Francis&comma; Special Agent in Charge&comma; Homeland Security Investigations &lpar;HSI&rpar;&comma; and James Vanderberg&comma; Special Agent in Charge of the U&period;S&period; Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General&comma; announced the agreement entered into today&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the agreement&comma; between 2010 and 2013&comma; Wright State entered into several sponsored research contracts with Webyoga&comma; Inc&period;&comma; a privately held&comma; Dayton-based software company&period; As part of the contracts&comma; Wright State would employ software engineers&comma; obtain H-1B visas for the employees&comma; and pay their respective salary and benefits as employees of the university&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The H-1B visa program allows companies in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s or higher degree in a specific specialty&period; As an institute of higher learning&comma; Wright State was &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote; cap exempt” from limits on the number of H-1B visas it could obtain&comma; unlike other types of organizations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Wright State University employed 24 foreign employees – who were selected and approved by Webyoga – through H-1B visas&period; The university used its &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;cap exempt” status to apply for the visas&period; In doing so&comma; Wright State submitted a signed employment offer letter from the university indicating the visa employee would be working for the university and under the supervision of university employees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Wright State did not disclose in the visa applications that it knew the employees would actually be working for Webyoga&period; In fact&comma; the university further specified the visa employees would not be working offsite&comma; but would be physically working on the school’s campus in Fairborn&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rather than develop the software programs named in the contracts&comma; the visa employees worked as consultants on behalf of Webyoga in various cities throughout the country&comma; including Atlanta&comma; Orlando and New York City&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Over the course of the contracts&comma; Wright State invoiced Webyoga for more than &dollar;1&period;8 million for the fees associated with the employees’ visas&comma; the employees’ salaries and benefits&comma; and administrative costs for the university&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Between 2010 and 2015&comma; Wright State also entered into similar arrangements with other companies wherein it would apply for H-1B visas for individuals&comma; knowing the individuals were going to work on a routine basis for another company that would then reimburse the school&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Visa fraud in higher education undermines the integrity of our immigration laws&comma;” said U&period;S&period; Attorney Glassman&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Today’s agreement ensures that will not happen again at Wright State&period; It also serves as a warning to other institutions that participate in the H-1B visa program that fraud in the administration of the program leads to consequences&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The federal agreement ordering Wright State University to admit to H1-B visa fraud violations and pay a &dollar;1 million dollar fine is the largest sanction imposed by HSI in Ohio relating to a visa-fraud investigation&comma;” said Steve Francis&comma; special agent in charge for HSI in Michigan and Ohio&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This outcome should serve as a warning to entities who may be seeking to exploit the U&period;S&period; Visa process&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Wright State University’s agreement to pay &dollar;1 million to the Government is a result of a visa fraud investigation that found the university grossly misused the H1-B visa cap exemption&period; We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously pursue those who defraud worker visa programs for their own personal gain&comma;” stated James Vanderberg&comma; Special Agent-in-Charge&comma; Chicago Region&comma; U&period;S&period; Department of Labor Office of Inspector General&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Wright State University acknowledges that the placement of H-1B visa employees with other companies and in locations other than Fairborn violated the terms of their visa applications&period; As a result&comma; the companies who were subject to the numerical H-1B visa limitation were able to use H-1B employees through their contracts with Wright State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Upon being notified by the U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office of the federal investigation&comma; the school’s Board of Trustees immediately addressed the H-1B visa employment issues by removing the faculty and employees responsible for the contracts&period; This included restructuring key departments such as the General Counsel’s Office and the Department of Compliance in order to insure all existing and future H-1B employee applications comply with all federal laws and regulations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Glassman added&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Several factors were important in the decision to resolve the matter with Wright State by agreement&comma; rather than prosecution&period; These factors include Wright State’s immediate cooperation upon being notified by federal authorities of the investigation&comma; the removal or demotion of the responsible employees&comma; Wright State’s remedial measures&comma; including the university’s commitment to audit and compliance&comma; and consideration of the Wright State student body’s wellbeing as part of the public interest&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The University will pay the federal government &dollar;1 million in three installments&period; The first of those installments is due within 60 days and the second is due within 12 months&period; The final installment must be paid within 12 months of the second payment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-sdoh&sol;pr&sol;wright-state-university-agrees-pay-government-1-million-visa-fraud">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Visa Fraud