Texas Tech Firm Indicted for H-1B Misuse

The Texas firm Dibon Solutions has been indicted by federal authorities for using the H-1B visa system to create an as needed” work force. The papers filed by the federal government detail the scam, saying the tech firm recruited foreign workers and sponsored them for H-1B visas but required them to provide consulting services to third-party companies in other locations.The indictment says the firm only paid the H-1B visa holders when they performed work for the third-party contractors. The scheme “provided the conspirators with a labor pool of inexpensive, skilled foreign workers who could be used on an ‘as needed’ basis.”The report said the scheme minimized overhead and produced large profits for the firm because they had low costs when the H-1B workers weren’t working, but earned high profits when they were. The scheme is called “benching” and companies are required to notify the federal government when they are doing it. Firms are supposed to pay visa holders the prevailing wage for the job they’re hired for, however, whether they’re working or not.For more information, see Computerworld.