Owner of IT staffing company charged with visa and naturalization fraud

NEWARK, New Jersey –
Neeraj Sharma, 43, of Piscataway, New Jersey, was arrested for allegedly submitting 11 fraudulent H-1B visa applications as well as fraudulently procuring his own citizenship, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Sharma is charged by complaint with one count of visa fraud and one count of naturalization fraud.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:
Sharma recruited foreign workers with purported IT expertise who sought work in the United States. When submitting the potential staffers’ H-1B visa paperwork to U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services, Sharma falsely represented that the foreign workers had full-time positions awaiting them at a national bank, a prerequisite to securing their visas. In fact, Sharma had never secured work for the applicants and submitted phony letters to USCIS on the bank’s letterhead with forged signatures of bank executives.

The visa and naturalization fraud charges carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.