Two California residents have pleaded guilty in a visa fraud case linked to the H-1B programme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said. The case involves the misuse of job offers to secure visas for foreign workers.
Officials said the accused submitted false information in visa applications to gain approvals. The investigation found that the workers were not employed in the roles mentioned in the petitions. The accused, Sampath Rajidi, 51, and Sreedhar Mada, 51, both residents of Dublin, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California said in a press release.
H1-B visa fraud linked to visa services companies
According to court documents, Rajidi operated two visa-related firms — S-Team Software Inc.
and Uptrend Technologies LLC. Between June 2020 and January 2023, the two submitted multiple H-1B visa petitions claiming that foreign workers would be employed in roles linked to the University of California. Mada, who served as Chief Information Officer at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR), used his position to support these claims.However, investigators found that the jobs listed in the applications did not exist.
The workers were not employed at the university and were instead placed with other clients after their visas were approved.Officials said the false information played a key role in getting visa approvals from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The scheme allowed the accused to gain an advantage over other firms and reduced the number of visas available to legitimate applicants.
H1-B visa fraud in California: Investigation and next steps
The case is being investigated by multiple agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations and the USCIS Fraud Detection unit. Both Rajidi and Mada are scheduled to be sentenced on July 30, 2026. They face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, though the final sentence will be decided by the court.
