A San Jose-based technology staffing firm owner has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for visa fraud, federal prosecutors announced.
Kishore Dattapuram, 55, co-owner and operator of Nanosemantics Inc., was indicted in February 2019 alongside two others on one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and 10 counts of substantive visa fraud.
He pleaded guilty to all charges in November of last year, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California released Monday.
Prosecutors said Nanosemantics received commissions for each worker it successfully placed in technology companies across the Bay Area.
The firm submitted H-1B visa petitions on behalf of foreign workers to obtain temporary authorization for them to live and work in the U.S.
To secure an H-1B visa, employers are required to submit an I-129 petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), confirming the existence of a valid job offer and providing key details such as the job’s duration and associated wages.
According to authorities, Dattapuram conspired with two others to file H-1B applications that falsely claimed foreign workers had jobs lined up with specific end-client companies — positions that, in reality, did not exist.
"On multiple occasions, Dattapuram paid companies to falsely appear as end-clients for foreign workers, knowing those workers would never actually be employed there," prosecutors said. "The goal of the scheme was to secure H-1B visas for candidates before jobs were confirmed, allowing Nanosemantics to quickly place them once real opportunities arose—giving the company an unfair advantage over competitors."
In addition to his prison sentence, Dattapuram was ordered to serve three years of supervised release. He must also forfeit $125,456.48, pay a $7,500 fine, and a $1,100 special assessment fee.