H1B Visa Fraud: Two people of Indian origin have admitted their mistake in the H-1B visa fraud case in America. This case was going on in the US court for the last several years, in which Sampath Rajidi and Sridhar Mada (both 51 years old) are accused of obtaining H-1B visas for foreign citizens by using fake job offers.

According to the US Justice Department, both pleaded guilty to visa fraud on Thursday (April 16, 2026). He can face a maximum sentence of 5 years and a fine of up to $2.5 lakh (approximately Rs 2.33 crore).

Through which companies the crime was committed

According to court documents, Rajidi sponsored foreign workers for H-1B visas through companies named S-Team Software Inc. and Uptrend Technologies LLC. At the same time, Mada was the Chief Information Officer at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources/UCANR. Despite holding this position, he did not have the authority to independently appoint H-1B employees.

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What was revealed in the investigation?

The investigation revealed that between 2020 and 2023, both of them together filed several fake H-1B applications. These applications claimed that foreign employees would work at the University of California, when in reality no such jobs existed. According to prosecutors, these false claims gave them an unfair advantage over other companies and reduced the number of H-1B visas available to genuine applicants.

The investigation also found that after getting the visas, these employees were sent to work for other clients and not on university projects. Now in this case American District Judge Troy L. Nunnally’s sentence will be pronounced on July 30.

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