Former US Congressman and economist Dr Dave Brat has called out India over the H-1B visa program, pointing to massive irregularities. He said that while the national cap for H-1B visas is 85,000, one Indian district alone received 220,000 visas, more than 2.5 times the limit.
According to US government data, over 70% of H-1B visa holders are from India, while China follows with around 10–12%. After returning to the White House for a second term, Donald Trump has restricted these visas, imposing a hefty $100,000 fee under his “America-first” approach. The move has sparked both celebration and controversy on a large scale.
‘One district in India got 220k H1B visas’
Speaking on Steve Bannon’s podcast, Brat said, “When you hear H-1B, think of your family, because these fraudulent visas just stole their future. One of these folks comes over claiming they’re skilled. They’re not. They just took away your family’s job, mortgage, and house.” He also added that only 12% of H-1B visas go to China, calling out the disproportionate share coming from India.
Adding that around 71% of H-1B visa holders come from India, he said, “That tells you something’s going on right there. Then there’s a cap of only 85,000 H-1B visas, but somehow one district in India, the Madras district, got 220,000, two and a half times the cap set by Congress. So that’s the scam.”
DR. DAVE BRAT: 71% of H-1B visas come from India. The national cap is 85,000, yet one Indian district got 220,000! That's 2.5x the limit!
— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) November 24, 2025
When you hear H-1B, think of your family, because these fraudulent visas just stole their future.@brateconomics pic.twitter.com/8O1v8qVJPe
According to a report cited by the Times of India, in 2024, India’s Chennai consulate reportedly processed 220,000 H-1B visas and 140,000 H-4 dependent visas 2024.
Chennai consulate under spotlight
Earlier appearing on a podcast, US diplomat Mahvash Siddiqui, who worked at the Chennai consulate from 2005 to 2007, revealed that 80–90% of the H-1B visas coming from India were fraudulent. Many applicants had fake degrees, forged documents, or weren’t truly skilled, she said.
In a separate X post, she wrote, “It is high time we bust the 30+ yr long H1B visa racket that falsely claims that the U.S. has a dearth of STEM workers, when the reality is that many hard-working Americans are being displaced by foreign temporary guest workers who abuse the system for green cards.” Calling out the system of selection in India, she claimed that, in many cases, candidates didn’t even appear for their interviews if the interviewer was an American.
Proxy candidates would sit in for them, and Indian managers would give jobs to other Indians in exchange for a monthly cut from their salaries. “As an Indian-American, I hate to say this, but fraud and bribery are normalised in India,” Siddiqui said
Siddiqui said the consulate handled applications from Hyderabad, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. She added that her team tried to flag the fraud to the administration, but faced political pressure.
H-1B visas typically allow foreigners to work in the US, but the growing demand for these visas, along with Americans raising concerns about job losses, led to an immigration crackdown under the recent Trump administration. This included ICE raids, deportations, a hardened stance on visas, H-1B fee hikes, and caps on international students, all under the spotlight.
