Meet Kandi Srinivasa Reddy: Congress leader in US H-1B visa lottery rigging

Congress leader Kandi Srinivasa Reddy, implicated in US H-1B Visa Lottery Manipulation Scheme, denies any wrongdoing

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Kandi Srinivasa Reddy, a Congress leader from Adilabad, Telangana, is under scrutiny for allegedly exploiting the H-1B visa lottery system in the United States. A Bloomberg report has linked Reddy, who founded Cloud Big Data Technologies LLC in 2013, to a scheme that secured over 300 H-1B visas since 2020 through manipulation of the lottery process.
 

Here is a closer look into Reddy and his alleged visa scam.

Who is Kandi Srinivasa Reddy?

Reddy hails from Hasnapur village in Tamsi Mandal, Adilabad district, Telangana. He pursued a master’s degree from the Missouri University of Science & Technology Rolla in the US in 2011, and settled near Dallas. He works as a tech consultant. He has often described himself as a “common farmer’s child”.

Reddy also founded the Indian American Farmers Cooperative Cooperation and operates a foundation to help farmers in his hometown. Additionally, he runs his television and online news platform. He is also the CEO of Artifint Technologies.

Reddy has been linked to several companies that share the same address which were implicated in the alleged lottery manipulation and visa scheme.

Kandi Srinivasa Reddy: Political aspirations, criminal charges

Despite initial attempts to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party, he eventually joined Congress and became a candidate for the Telangana Assembly elections. He lost the elections by 19,884 votes, coming in third. The seat was secured by Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Payal Shanker, and the second-highest votes went to Jogu Ramanna of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

According to his candidate affidavit, filed last year, Reddy disclosed more than Rs 50 crore in assets and nearly Rs 5 crore in liabilities.

The affidavit also showed that there were seven criminal cases pending against Reddy, including charges related to Punishment for Criminal Intimidation (IPC Section-506), Punishment for bribery (IPC Section-171E),  charges related to Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property (IPC Section-420), and charges related to Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs (IPC Section-295A).

Formal charges on these FIRs are still pending and Reddy has never been convicted in any criminal case.

US H-1B visa scam allegations

Kandi Srinivasa Reddy has been accused of masterminding a scheme to manipulate the H-1B visa lottery. His companies, including Cloud Big Data Technologies LLC and Machine Learning Technologies LLC, reportedly used multiple registrations to increase their chances of securing visas. This tactic has drawn attention from US authorities, who have flagged the scheme.

During the Trump administration, USCIS proposed changes to simplify the H-1B lottery process, which led to a surge in multiple entries for the same workers.

The alleged scheme operated by exploiting a loophole in the streamlined H-1B lottery process, introduced in 2020. By submitting multiple entries for the same worker under different company names, Reddy’s firms managed to generate over 3,000 lottery entries, securing more than 300 visas. This manipulation disadvantaged companies adhering to the rules, creating an uneven playing field.
 

Reddy’s companies charged workers 20 per cent to 30 per cent of their pay, amounting to $15,000 or more annually for each worker.

Reddy denies wrongdoing in H-1B visa case

Despite Reddy’s claims of limited involvement, official documents and previous statements indicate his significant control over the companies in question. Reddy defended his actions to media outlets, asserting that filing multiple visa entries is legal and that employees have the choice of which company to join.

His lawyer, Lucas Garritson, argued that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not follow proper procedures in prohibiting the activity and lacked proof of rule violations by Reddy’s firms.