Kishore Dattapuram, a Santa Clara resident, admitted his involvement in a visa fraud scheme centered around the misuse of the H-1B visa program in federal court this week. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, Dattapuram, 55, along with co-defendants Kumar Aswapathi, 55, from Austin, Texas, and Santosh Giri, 48, of San Jose, were charged back in February 2019. The charges included one count of conspiracy to commit H-1B visa fraud and 10 counts of actual visa fraud. Aswapathi admitted guilt on all charges in October 2020, while Giri did so more recently on October 28, 2024.
Dattapuram and Aswapathi managed Nanosemantics Inc., an IT staffing firm based in San Jose. The company primarily provided skilled personnel to various technology firms in the Bay Area. Through their business model, Nanosemantics earned commissions for each worker they successfully placed in positions at client companies. Dattapuram worked closely with Giri, who operated a separate business, LexGiri, a legal process outsourcing company specializing as a “remote-virtual corporate immigration specialist” for corporations. LexGiri played a significant role in the visa petition process. In its staffing operations, Nanosemantics often filed H-1B visa petitions for foreign workers. However, Dattapuram has now admitted that these petitions included misrepresentations about the employment status of the workers involved.
In his guilty plea, Dattapuram acknowledged that he, along with Aswapathi and Giri, submitted H-1B visa applications that falsely claimed that specific jobs awaited the foreign employees at certain designated companies. However, these roles did not actually exist.Dattapuram disclosed that, in multiple instances, he paid companies to act as the listed employers for foreign workers despite knowing that the workers had no intention of being employed by these companies. He admitted, “The goal of this scheme was to acquire visas for workers ahead of actually finding positions for them, enabling Nanosemantics to place employees with client companies the moment jobs became available.” This allowed the staffing company to circumvent the waiting period associated with H-1B applications, providing it with a competitive edge over other firms.
The strategy Nanosemantics employed allowed them to secure work authorizations for candidates without waiting for job placements to materialize. This approach gave Nanosemantics the flexibility to deploy employees immediately once positions opened up at client companies, effectively streamlining their hiring process and bypassing the standard visa approval timeline. As a result, Nanosemantics gained an advantage over competitors by speeding up their staffing services.
Dattapuram’s sentencing is slated for February 24, 2025, on the same date as Giri’s hearing. Aswapathi, however, has a status hearing related to his sentencing scheduled earlier, on November 25, 2024. If convicted on all counts, each defendant could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of visa fraud, in addition to a maximum of five years in prison and another potential fine of $250,000 for the conspiracy charge.
The H-1B visa program provides a pathway for skilled foreign workers to live and work temporarily in the United States. Employers or sponsors must file a Form I-129 with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to initiate the H-1B visa process. This petition must confirm that a job is waiting for the worker and specify important details, including the position’s duration and the wages associated with it.
