USCIS, the federal agency responsible for awarding H-1B visas, stated that submission patterns have “raised serious concerns that some may have tried to gain an unfair advantage by working together to submit multiple registrations on behalf of the same beneficiary”.

The agency said this practice may have “unfairly increased their chances of selection”.

USCIS uses a computer-generated lottery system for eligible visa applicants. Last year there were 483,927 registrations. This year, that number rose to 780,884, an increase of 61%.

Two years ago, the number of registrations of people who applied more than once was 90,143. Last year the number rose to 165,180; this year, ballooning to 408,891.

“H1B visas play a critical role in the US workforce and economy as a path”

Although specific organisations were not named in the USCIS report, individuals with information about the investigation noted it involved small companies in the tech industry, some of which may be shell companies, established to market services to employers seeking to hire staff who require visas.

Although the tech industry has implemented unprecedented lay-offs in the past year, there are many international students who currently work in the industry whose student visas are set to expire and who need an H-1B visa to keep their position.

These visas are the principal way in which employers are able to hire foreign college graduates. Many of these employees are international students educated at US institutions. For most of these students, it the only visa that allows them a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship.

“H1B visas play a critical role in the US workforce and economy as a path, not just for foreign workers recruited from abroad, but also as an essential tool for retaining international students or US-educated talent that will otherwise take their knowledge and know-how to other competing countries,” Rajika Bhandari, principal of Rajika Bhandari Advisors, told The PIE.

Bhandari, also a senior advisor to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said groups such as the Presidents’ Alliance, support the government’s efforts to prevent fraud.

She suggested the report indicates a much deeper issue.

“The root cause is an outmoded immigration system where the overall supply of H-1B visas, capped at just 85,000, is far below the demand and far below what is needed for an economy and workforce which is facing demographic declines and needs to increasingly tap global talent,” she proffered.

Jill Welch, a consultant and senior policy advisor for The Presidents’ Alliance, asserted that congress should expand the availability of green cards, “so that there isn’t such a heavy reliance on H-1Bs, which were always meant to be temporary work visas”.