India’s Largest Outsourcing Company Gets The Stick

Visa Abuse: It is alleged that India’s largest outsourcing company, Infosys Technologies has come under severe scrutiny from immigration officers of the United States. The company is a well known industry name and is the biggest user of H-1B visas. The Indian media reported for the high-profile case of the visa system.

Allegations: It is believed that the company has not fully complied with the visa rules. An employee lawsuit has been filed in the Alabama court. The case has thrown light of the persisting impact of difficulties with respect to compliance and the costs that have to be incurred for visa services. Visas are currently required in the United States particularly if the companies belong to the Information Technology and even BPO sectors.

Apprehensions: A lot is expected to affect India particularly the IT sector. The sector will have to face losses as heavy as up to $60 billion. The IT industry’s main source of revenue is actually the United States of America. The CLSA Asia-Pacific released a report lately that showed margins for companies such as the Infosys Technologies can decrease as much as 50%. This can happen as they will need to hire native employees instead.

Constant Violation: Exactly a month back, The New York Times reported that Infosys has constantly been violating the legal code of conduct of visa for the business class. The two departments concerned, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security were both probing into the way Infosys uses its employees who come to the United States under the B-1 visas for the business class. These allegations were reportedly put forward in a lawsuit in Alabama this February.

The Infosys Situation: One of the leaders in the IT sector, Infosys currently has 15,000 employees hired in the USA. Two-thirds of them were given the H-1B visas. Some time ago, companies as big as Infosys Tech was never in the spotlight for such violation of the visa terms. But unfortunately they have been accused of abuse of the visa system, especially for non-immigrant workers belonging to the H-1B, L-1 and B-1 categories.

B-1 For H-1b Visa: The H-1B visa was replaced controversially by the B-1 visa. The B-1 visitor is mainly popular for its exclusions of major benefits of profitable service enjoyed by B-1 visa holders in the United States. The State Department relaxes a number of regulations that makes the standard rule exclusive in itself and the B-1 Visa Holders are much better off. The B-1 visa has various durations on its issue. It can be short term as well.