Law firm markets U.S. immigration loopholes to Indian nationals
A promotional webpage published by the Chicago-based JLB Law Group titled “Legal Immigration from India: Your Complete Guide to U.S. Pathways” reveals more than just immigration options. It offers a blueprint for how foreign nationals, specifically from India, can exploit nearly every major U.S. immigration category, from student and work visas to green card waivers and domestic abuse protections, often in ways that undermine the integrity of the system and disadvantage American citizens.
The law firm openly markets its services not to immigrants broadly, but explicitly to Indian nationals, despite the fact that U.S. immigration law is nationality-neutral. This nationality-specific targeting raises serious ethical concerns. When American law firms promote immigration pathways tailored to one foreign country that already dominates visa issuance, such as India with over 70% of all H-1B visas, it reflects systemic bias and contributes to labor market distortion.
One of the most misleading elements of the guide is its treatment of the F-1 student visa. The firm highlights the F-1 not simply as a path to education but as an employment gateway, emphasizing that students can obtain Optional Practical Training (OPT) and STEM OPT extensions that allow up to three years of U.S. work authorization. What the firm fails to disclose is that OPT is not a guaranteed benefit, but a discretionary training program. Nor does it mention that OPT employees are exempt from payroll taxes, giving employers a financial incentive to hire foreign graduates over U.S. students.
By marketing the F-1 visa as a job opportunity rather than a study permit, JLB Law Group contributes to a growing trend of foreign nationals entering the U.S. with education as a pretext, then transitioning into the labor force through OPT. This practice not only displaces qualified American graduates but also undermines the intent of the visa.
The guide also promotes the H-1B visa, calling it one of the most popular options for Indian professionals. It fails to mention that the H-1B program has been repeatedly flagged by Congress and the Department of Labor for widespread abuse, wage suppression and outsourcing fraud. U.S. companies and foreign staffing firms often use the H-1B visa not to fill true talent shortages, but to replace American workers with lower-paid, visa-dependent labor, a process sometimes culminating in U.S. employees being forced to train their foreign replacements.
JLB Law Group also encourages the use of the L-1 visa, which allows multinational companies to transfer employees from foreign offices to the U.S. without labor market testing or wage requirements. This visa has been heavily exploited by Indian tech firms to rotate workers in and out of the U.S. while circumventing U.S. hiring standards. By advertising it as a seamless route for Indian professionals, the firm ignores the consequences for American IT workers whose jobs are being offshored or outsourced.
Even more concerning is the firm’s promotion of the National Interest Waiver (NIW) under the EB-2 green card category. The NIW allows foreign nationals to bypass employer sponsorship if they can prove their work benefits the national interest. In the hands of researchers and highly skilled innovators, the NIW is a legitimate provision. But law firms like JLB are now encouraging ordinary professionals to apply under NIW by reframing their resumes to sound nationally significant. This trend has transformed a narrow exception into a broad loophole.
Between FY 2018 and FY 2023, the percentage of EB-2 green card petitions using the National Interest Waiver (NIW) route surged from 12% to 43%, a nearly fourfold increase. USCIS data shows that while total EB-2 petitions grew, non-NIW petitions dropped and NIW filings nearly doubled between FY 2022 and FY 2023 alone. This spike correlates with mass layoffs in the tech industry and a growing number of PERM labor certifications failing due to labor market test failures and PERM pauses, especially at companies like Google and Meta.
Internal posts reveal that major employers paused PERM filings due to their inability to meet DOL requirements, pushing foreign workers toward self-petitioned NIWs instead.
The NIW was designed for individuals whose work benefits the U.S. at a national level not as a backup for failed labor market tests. But AI-driven legal platforms and social media forums are now openly marketing NIW as a workaround to bypass PERM scrutiny, with one developer boasting an 80% approval rate using a DIY AI tool.
Despite this, employer-specific data shows mixed results. At Meta, for example, 63% of employees reported their NIWs were denied even when filed through company attorneys, raising concerns over the actual merit of many of these petitions. As NIW exploitation becomes a substitute for employer sponsorship and labor testing, it threatens the very foundation of U.S. worker protections under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
JLB describes the National Interest Waiver (NIW) as a pathway for those whose work “strengthens the U.S. economic system and national interests.” But the firm provides no context about the highly subjective criteria used to evaluate such petitions, nor does it address the growing misuse of the waiver by foreign nationals coached to manipulate the language of “national benefit.” As with the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, the real victims are American professionals, shut out of opportunities by visa schemes never meant for foreign workforce expansion.
But perhaps the most egregious section on the JLB site is its treatment of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Positioned casually alongside student and employment visa categories, VAWA is framed as a viable option for those “looking for legal immigration status in the U.S. without their abuser’s involvement.” The firm even offers a self-screening guide to help applicants assess their eligibility, without any warning about the serious consequences of filing a false claim or the humanitarian purpose of the law. VAWA petitions after entering sham marriages, fabricating abuse and submitting falsified documentation to secure green cards.
By marketing VAWA alongside job- and education-based immigration routes, the firm implies it can serve as a backup plan if marriage-based or employment petitions fail. This isn’t just misleading, it’s dangerous. It opens the door to fraud and exploitation of a law meant to protect true victims. And this concern is not hypothetical.
Indian nationals have already been prosecuted in federal court for precisely this kind of abuse. In United States v. Nasir Hussain, the defendant was convicted after submitting a VAWA petition built on fake medical reports, fabricated cohabitation records and a non-existent spouse. In United States v. Hiren Makwana, another Indian national pleaded guilty to entering a sham marriage and filing a false VAWA petition once the relationship collapsed.
In another disturbing case Indian Nationals pled guilty to staging armed robberies at more than nine stores across several states. Their goal? To create fake police reports so clerks could apply for U nonimmigrant status (U visas) by claiming to be victims of violent crimes.
Meanwhile, VAWA filings have exploded. In 2010, just over 8,200 petitions were filed. By 2023, that number had skyrocketed to over 50,000, with more than 104,000 petitions pending. As of mid-2024, VAWA filings exceeded 51,000, with a backlog approaching 150,000. Particularly troubling is the spike in parent-based VAWA claims, cases in which foreign-born parents allege abuse by their U.S. citizen children. These rare and difficult-to-substantiate claims are now being filed in the tens of thousands.
USCIS data confirms the trend. As reported in 2023 VAWA petitions increased by 46% and the numbers continue to rise. On November 11, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would begin conducting more thorough interviews for VAWA self-petitioners. The change followed a string of high-profile fraud cases in New York, Massachusetts and Maryland, alongside the explosive growth in filings.
All of this is packaged on a single webpage like a menu, lawful, attainable and curated specifically for Indian nationals seeking U.S. residency. From F-1 to H-1B, from L-1 to NIW and ultimately to VAWA, the message is unmistakable: if one path fails, pivot to another. There is no concern for displaced American workers, no deterrent against fraud, no mention of integrity. Just a relentless pursuit of access, by any means necessary.
Behind the language of law and opportunity lies a sprawling pipeline fueled by desperation and greed. From immigration law firms, universities, shady consultancies, middlemen in India, recruiters in America, everyone wants a piece of the profit. And in their pursuit, they exploit loopholes, defraud the U.S. immigration system and trample over the livelihoods of American workers.
India’s obsession with America is no secret. As one smuggler confessed, “They only want to go to America. America is a craze. And they only want to go to America at any cost. No matter what the cost is.”
This isn’t immigration. This is industrialized manipulation. A coordinated strategy to turn America into India’s second homeland, at our expense. When humanitarian laws like VAWA are reduced to backup plans for failed employment or marriage visas, it’s not just a loophole. It’s a weapon.
The American people deserve a system that serves them, not one sold off to foreign agendas, one form at a time.
Stay tuned and follow WND for more exclusive investigations exposing the truth behind the immigration industrial complex.