# Indian-American investor says 20-25% of H-1B holders are frauds 2026-08-22T03:23:15+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet (2 source reports) Indian-American tech entrepreneur and investor Vivek Wadhwa has said that 20-25% of people who come to the US on H-1B visas have fake degrees. Speaking on a podcast with Mark Halperin, Wadhwa said staffing companies, known as 'body shops', inflate resumes and qualifications to bring in cheap labour. He said US recruiters should vet applications more carefully. Wadhwa later posted on X that the H-1B program is so broken it should be ended entirely. He said it once helped America lead in innovation but is now corrupted by unethical practices, long green-card backlogs, and xenophobia. He called for a new startup visa that allows employment-generating companies to bring in genuine talent, giving them freedom and dignity instead of decades of uncertainty. The Times of India reports that Wadhwa, a supporter of the H-1B program in the past, now believes Congress should scrap it. He said Americans do not hate Indians but rightfully hate the abuse by unethical Indians of a system meant to uplift America. Wadhwa said he wants green-card allocations to increase, noting that the waiting time for Indians has stretched from 18 months to 70 years. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both sources, from the same outlet, report Wadhwa's comments without independent verification or expert counterpoint. The first source presents his fraud estimate as a factual claim, while the second frames his call to abolish H-1B as a solution. Neither source questions Wadhwa's numbers or his shift from supporter to critic. A careful reader should note that Wadhwa is an academic, not an investigator, and that his 20-25% figure is anecdotal. The story gains political weight as the Trump administration tightens visa rules, watch for any official US data on fraud rates or a legislative response. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Reports Wadhwa's allegations without adding editorial commentary or verification. - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (2) (neutral report) Reports Wadhwa's call to end H-1B without challenging or endorsing his claims. This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-22T14:00:58+00:00. Tags: green card, H-1B visa, Silicon Valley, United States, Vivek Wadhwa Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/vivek-wadhwa-claims-20-25-of-h-1b-entrants-are-frauds/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/vivek-wadhwa-claims-20-25-of-h-1b-entrants-are-frauds/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/