‘Not true’: Frisco Indian restaurant owner faces charges for hiring only students with F-1 visas
An Indian restaurant in Frisco, Texas, has been targeted multiple times by a group calling themselves the Texas Investigation Team. The group claims that Frisco’s Bollywood Pizza only hires Indian students on F-1 visas, which is essentially illegal. To support their accusations, they impersonated aIndian caller named Ravi and called restaurants looking for work. It became clear from the conversation that the restaurant employs F-1 visa students and pays them in cash or Zelle. Following that call, a video has now been released showing the same team visiting the pizzeria and requesting a meeting with the owner to ask him to comment on the allegations. “This is not true,” said the man identified in the video as store owner Omprakash Thota. The man also denied knowing anything about the previous viral call. He was also accused of moonlighting and working at Bank of America, which he denied.
Bollywood Pizza Parlor Official Statement
The Indian restaurant released an official statement after the video went viral and said they would be recruiting job applications from anyone interested in working with them. “We would like to clarify that the statement that our restaurant only hires F-1 visa students is not true,” the statement said. “At Bollywood Pizza House, we welcome anyone interested in working with us to apply for a job. Each application is reviewed fairly and all hiring decisions are made based on qualifications and legal qualifications.”“Bollywood Pizza House is owned and operated by a hard-working family that has been serving the Frisco community for the past three years, always striving to provide high-quality food, great taste, cleanliness and respectful service. We are also pleased to receive unanimously high marks from the City of Frisco for sanitation standards, which reflects the care and responsibility we have for everything we serve,” the statement read.
Can F-1 students work in restaurants?
F-1 students may only work in college campus cafes. After the first year, they can work in a field related to their subject, something restaurant jobs mostly don’t qualify for.
