H-1B visa: US Immigration lawyer shares what to ‘watch out’ for lottery; warns of fraud calls

Immigration alert: With Donald Trump administration's mass deportations, and visa revocation of international students on the rise, a US immigration lawyer recently warned visa holders of fraud calls, and shared a list on what to watch out for, while filing for H-1B Visa lottery.

“Be cautious of emails or calls claiming to be from the “Indian Consulate,” US immigration lawyer Rajiv Khanna posted on LinkedIn.

The lawyer further shared his own experience of receiving a fraud call from the Indian consulate in the United States, falsely notifying individuals about visa revocations.

Khanna claimed that despite being a US citizen, he had received fraud calls. Earlier, the Indian Embassy in US had warned citizens to be alert of fraud calls.

Indian Embassy in US warns against fraud calls

In March 2024, the Indian Embassy in the US issued an advisory warning against fraudulent phone calls, where scammers impersonate embassy officials to deceive people.

According to the advisory, the fraudsters have been spoofing the embassy’s phone numbers, including the official line (202-939-7000), to make it appear as though the calls are coming from the embassy.

What are the fraud calls

The calls falsely claim that there are issues with the individual's passport, visa, or immigration documents, and demand money to "fix" the problem—threatening deportation or imprisonment if payment is not made, stated the release.

H-1B lottery Do's and Don't

Rajiv Khanna also shared a list of Do's and Don't for the H-1B lottery, which is a random selection process conducted by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to allocate H-1B visas.

On Saturday, April 12, the US Department of State released its Visa Bulletin for May 2025. As per the latest bulletin, the EB-5 Unreserved category for India has retrogressed by more than six months, with the new cutoff date set at May 1, 2019.

Cut off dates for EB2, EB3, EB4 and EB5 Visa categories

The change in cut off dates for Indian EB5 visa applicants means that those who filed on or before May 1, 2019, are now eligible to move forward in the process.

In contrast, China's date remains unchanged at January 22, 2014, which is still much earlier — indicating an even longer wait time for Chinese applicants in this category.