New Delhi, Dec. 19 -- A visa officer highlighted the exploitation of the H-1B visa system, noting that many Indian nationals use fraudulent credentials to enter the US. The officer claimed that the surge in demand for H-1Bs has resulted in increased fraud and the displacement of qualified American workers in IT and STEM fields.

"Twenty years ago, I served as one of 15 junior visa officers at the US Consulate in Chennai. We adjudicated thousands of visas daily in an environment where 70-90% of applicants sought to exploit the non-immigrant visa system to live and work in the US illegally," officer Mahvash Siddiqui was quoted as saying in a report by the Centre for Immigration Studies.

Mahvash Siddiqui is a US Foreign Service Officer with...