These fake interviews that are being discussed here apply to the Green Card process. The issue is with the stupid immigration system. This is how it works. A candidate applies for a Job at Verizon and to get the job, he/she competes with all other candidates. The candidate is selected based on his skills and performance in the interview and he joins the company as a full-time employee through H1B visa which the company sponsors. Once US Govt acknowledges the receipt of H1B (about 2 weeks), the candidate starts working. Let's say, he has worked for 6 months and he asks his manager to initiate Green Card based on his current job for which he interviewed and currently performing. The manager seeks VP approval and the Green card process is initiated. This is where the stupidity comes in. The Green card is for his/her current job for which he/she already went thru the interview process and got selected. Why would you subject that candidate to another interview for the same job? The stupidity of immigration law demands that a Job description is posted, candidates are interviewed, etc. In this situation, you can't possibly select others. Doing so will force that candidate to move out of the company. Hence, the interview is not just fake but downright stupid. For any US company to sponsor H1B, that candidate EITHER needs to be working in the US on an H1B visa through another company OR the candidate is working in that company's foreign office.
There is another situation where the interview for Green card job makes sense. This is when you have a position and no candidate is already working for that position. Manager will conduct the interview, select a candidate, and initiate the Green card process without going through H1B. The candidate can start working ONLY after he/she gets the Green card. This is so stupid at multiple levels. First, if you desperately need an Einstein, you can't wait until Einstein gets his Green Card through this process. Einstein may not have a backlog as a german Citizen but Pitchai or Nadella (from India) would have a lot more waiting time. Secondly, a manager has not seen this candidate's work ethic/skills in action and he is already spending a good amount of money just based on interview. No American company does this unless an Uncle owns the company and has a Green card Job and his nephew is the beneficiary.
Hope this helps.
Disclaimer: Originally from India, I joined Verizon through H1B visa and my boss liked my work ethic/skills and started my Green card process which got approved after 10 years. Applied for US citizenship, 5 years after Green card approval. Took the VSP package recently. Life as an H1B is interesting and it is not easily relatable to native-born US citizens although they may do the same job every day. Even my US-born kids would never understand what I went through. They dismiss that as one of the dad jokes! 😜