7 ms·

Prison for visa fraud in case involving Bay Area workers

57 points by hanging 8y ago

diebeforei485 8y ago
The government should be able to seek denaturalization of people who misuse the immigration system to oppress other immigrants (for example by ordering them to break laws, making them pay visa fees, etc). This guy Katam was an immigrant himself, and became a US Citizen in 2009. If I was emperor, I would want him denaturalized. A year or so in prison is not enough punishment.
- sushisushisushi 8y ago
  There's a reason why denaturalization usually only happens if you perjured your way into citizenship: it's an extremely severe action that is not meant to be a punishment, but rather to correct a mistake (according citizenship to somebody who in reality failed to meet certain criteria). Denaturalization as punishment is something you see in totalitarian ethno-states, not democracies.
  - cm2187 8y ago
    No in France you can loose your acquired nationality if you participated to terrorism against France. Was voted in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, though wasn't of much use since all the terrorists of those attacks were natives of either France or Belgium.
    - alasdair_ 8y ago
      I wonder what happens if someone like Le Pen ever gets in charge. Being able to de-naturalize "terrorists" sounds like a pretty serious power that could be abused.
  - pkaye 8y ago
    What about the UK and Shamima Begum losing UK citizenship?
    - toomuchtodo 8y ago
      Mistakenly nationalized someone without the character UK citizenship demands. (EDIT: /s)
      - pkaye 8y ago
        She was born in the UK.
  - cam_l 8y ago
    ..and Australia, if you have been sentenced for a serious crime (more than 3yrs, iirc). (0) Hell, we don't even particularly care if we make them stateless. (1) (0) https://www.sbs.com.au/news/new-laws-will-strip-australian-extremists-of-citizenship https://www.sbs.com.au/news/new-laws-will-strip-australian-e... (1) https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-08/neil-prakash-definitely-not-fijian-argue-officials/10698462 https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-08/neil-prakash-defin...
  - zaarn 8y ago
    Germany allows it to, but only in case of dual citizenship and people returning from ISIS-supportive groups in foreign countries.
- nerdponx 8y ago
  If he's a citizen, that probably violates the Equal Protection clause.
- rdtsc 8y ago
  That does happen for lying on the immigration and naturalization forms. We have have deported and denaturalized Nazi concentration camp guards before.
- pcwalton 8y ago
  Doesn't India disallow dual citizenship? Wikipedia [1] claims that Article 9 of the Indian Constitution forbids it (note that the Overseas Citizenship of India designation is not actually citizenship). So denaturalization would legally leave the person stateless. Making a person stateless against their will is considered a serious violation of human rights, regardless of what they have done. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_nationality_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_nationality_law
  - diebeforei485 8y ago
    Fair point, although there is no way that "year and a day" is enough punishment for this.
saagarjha 8y ago
> The head of an IT staffing company has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison This is a strange sentencing length; was there multiple charges of which one had a penalty of a day in prison?
- throwawayjava 8y ago
  That extra day makes a huge difference.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    In what way?
    - throwawayjava 8y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_and_a_day_rule#As_a_sentence_for_felons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_and_a_day_rule#As_a_sente...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- bonyt 8y ago
  It’s a common thing, since sentences that are a year or less aren’t entitled to certain credits in some places (“good time” credit in the US federal system). Since this is a federal case, that is probably the reason. Defense counsel will sometimes even ask for the extra day, since this credit will reduce the actual time served. http://federaldefendersny.org/information-for-client-and-families/federal-sentencing.html http://federaldefendersny.org/information-for-client-and-fam...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Declanomous 8y ago
  I think a year is usually a cutoff for sentencing rules. For instance, in many places if you serve less than a year you are places in jail, rather than prison. (It is distinctly better to be in prison rather than jail in most cases.) I know in my State there are a lot of other rules that are different if your sentence is over a year or not, but I don't know what rules would be applicable in this case.
Camillo 8y ago
> On his own, the man received a job offer from Samsung in San Jose, according to the complaint. How is this possible? Wouldn't the invalid arrangement have been flagged by e-Verify?
- alasdair_ 8y ago
  Does e-verify occur BEFORE the first day of employment?
  - pkaye 8y ago
    I think it happens on the first day when you fill out the I-9 form and provide proof for identification and employment.
jsnk 8y ago
If you are interested in analyzing h1b data, please check out my project, https://github.com/serv/h1bhub https://github.com/serv/h1bhub It's a tool to ingest raw h1b data into postgres, so you can study the data easier with SQL. It contains all rejected and approved cases from 2014 to 2018. I am also working on an app that allows you to look at h1b data on web.
ycombonator 8y ago
There are thousand others operating with impunity. https://techjobs.sulekha.com/h1b-jobs-usa https://techjobs.sulekha.com/h1b-jobs-usa - One of the popular marketplace for these “consulting” companies.
- sherilmathew 8y ago
  Hi, am looking for the H1B visa consultant for filing process currently. When you talk about the impunity stuff here can you please tell me 1 consulting company on this issue.?
  - prasathrocks 8y ago
    i have used some of the services, let me know the business name so i will be aware of it
siruncledrew 8y ago
His clients must be angry as hell. $3000 USD is a year's salary for many people in India, and was paid to a fellow Indian who took it to pad his pockets. This asshole was also an immigrant and knew what he was asking for from clients could be a life savings with help from friends and family. All while bullshitting the government to only benefit himself. The sentence is quite deserving considering what a terrible person he was to many people.
- 1000units 8y ago
  Isn't that peanuts in the Bay Area?

57 points by hanging 8y ago

The government should be able to seek denaturalization of people who misuse the immigration system to oppress other immigrants (for example by ordering them to break laws, making them pay visa fees, etc). This guy Katam was an immigrant himself, and became a US Citizen in 2009. If I was emperor, I would want him denaturalized. A year or so in prison is not enough punishment.

sushisushisushi 8y ago
There's a reason why denaturalization usually only happens if you perjured your way into citizenship: it's an extremely severe action that is not meant to be a punishment, but rather to correct a mistake (according citizenship to somebody who in reality failed to meet certain criteria). Denaturalization as punishment is something you see in totalitarian ethno-states, not democracies.
- cm2187 8y ago
  No in France you can loose your acquired nationality if you participated to terrorism against France. Was voted in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, though wasn't of much use since all the terrorists of those attacks were natives of either France or Belgium.
  - alasdair_ 8y ago
    I wonder what happens if someone like Le Pen ever gets in charge. Being able to de-naturalize "terrorists" sounds like a pretty serious power that could be abused.
- pkaye 8y ago
  What about the UK and Shamima Begum losing UK citizenship?
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    Mistakenly nationalized someone without the character UK citizenship demands. (EDIT: /s)
    - pkaye 8y ago
      She was born in the UK.
- cam_l 8y ago
  ..and Australia, if you have been sentenced for a serious crime (more than 3yrs, iirc). (0) Hell, we don't even particularly care if we make them stateless. (1) (0) https://www.sbs.com.au/news/new-laws-will-strip-australian-extremists-of-citizenship https://www.sbs.com.au/news/new-laws-will-strip-australian-e... (1) https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-08/neil-prakash-definitely-not-fijian-argue-officials/10698462 https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-08/neil-prakash-defin...
- zaarn 8y ago
  Germany allows it to, but only in case of dual citizenship and people returning from ISIS-supportive groups in foreign countries.
nerdponx 8y ago
If he's a citizen, that probably violates the Equal Protection clause.
rdtsc 8y ago
That does happen for lying on the immigration and naturalization forms. We have have deported and denaturalized Nazi concentration camp guards before.
pcwalton 8y ago
Doesn't India disallow dual citizenship? Wikipedia [1] claims that Article 9 of the Indian Constitution forbids it (note that the Overseas Citizenship of India designation is not actually citizenship). So denaturalization would legally leave the person stateless. Making a person stateless against their will is considered a serious violation of human rights, regardless of what they have done. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_nationality_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_nationality_law
- diebeforei485 8y ago
  Fair point, although there is no way that "year and a day" is enough punishment for this.

saagarjha 8y ago

> The head of an IT staffing company has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison This is a strange sentencing length; was there multiple charges of which one had a penalty of a day in prison?

throwawayjava 8y ago
That extra day makes a huge difference.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  In what way?
  - throwawayjava 8y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_and_a_day_rule#As_a_sentence_for_felons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_and_a_day_rule#As_a_sente...
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
bonyt 8y ago
It’s a common thing, since sentences that are a year or less aren’t entitled to certain credits in some places (“good time” credit in the US federal system). Since this is a federal case, that is probably the reason. Defense counsel will sometimes even ask for the extra day, since this credit will reduce the actual time served. http://federaldefendersny.org/information-for-client-and-families/federal-sentencing.html http://federaldefendersny.org/information-for-client-and-fam...
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Declanomous 8y ago
I think a year is usually a cutoff for sentencing rules. For instance, in many places if you serve less than a year you are places in jail, rather than prison. (It is distinctly better to be in prison rather than jail in most cases.) I know in my State there are a lot of other rules that are different if your sentence is over a year or not, but I don't know what rules would be applicable in this case.

Camillo 8y ago

> On his own, the man received a job offer from Samsung in San Jose, according to the complaint. How is this possible? Wouldn't the invalid arrangement have been flagged by e-Verify?

alasdair_ 8y ago
Does e-verify occur BEFORE the first day of employment?
- pkaye 8y ago
  I think it happens on the first day when you fill out the I-9 form and provide proof for identification and employment.

jsnk 8y ago

If you are interested in analyzing h1b data, please check out my project, https://github.com/serv/h1bhub https://github.com/serv/h1bhub It's a tool to ingest raw h1b data into postgres, so you can study the data easier with SQL. It contains all rejected and approved cases from 2014 to 2018. I am also working on an app that allows you to look at h1b data on web.

ycombonator 8y ago

There are thousand others operating with impunity. https://techjobs.sulekha.com/h1b-jobs-usa https://techjobs.sulekha.com/h1b-jobs-usa - One of the popular marketplace for these “consulting” companies.

sherilmathew 8y ago
Hi, am looking for the H1B visa consultant for filing process currently. When you talk about the impunity stuff here can you please tell me 1 consulting company on this issue.?
- prasathrocks 8y ago
  i have used some of the services, let me know the business name so i will be aware of it

siruncledrew 8y ago

His clients must be angry as hell. $3000 USD is a year's salary for many people in India, and was paid to a fellow Indian who took it to pad his pockets. This asshole was also an immigrant and knew what he was asking for from clients could be a life savings with help from friends and family. All while bullshitting the government to only benefit himself. The sentence is quite deserving considering what a terrible person he was to many people.

1000units 8y ago
Isn't that peanuts in the Bay Area?