Thaindian News

Washington, April 15 (IANS) A US lawmaker has demanded a probe into allegations that Indian IT major Infosys was using the US B-1 business visitor visa programme to get around H-1B visa restrictions.

Senator Chuck Grassley has, in letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, asked for a thorough investigation into the use of the B-1 visa programme to skirt the cap and the prevailing wage requirements of the H-1B programme.

Grassley also referenced a formal complaint against Infosys that details how Infosys management in India allegedly decided to use the B-1 business visitor visa programme to get around H-1B programme restrictions.

The plaintiff alleges that Infosys was importing foreign workers as B-1 business visitors under the guise of attending meetings rather than working for a wage as an employee of a US company, which is forbidden under the statute and regulations governing the B-1 visa programme

“Infosys, by its own admission, is an H-1B dependent employer. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, H-1B dependent employers must take good faith steps to recruit the US workers and to offer them compensation that is at least as great as that required to be offered to H-1B non-immigrants,” the Senator said.

“In light of the allegations against Infosys, and the potential for other employers to abuse the B-1 visa to get around the H-1B visa programmeme, I would appreciate your cooperation to get to the bottom of the situation,” he added.

Grassley also sought information about how the B-1 visa is being used by employers and processed by consular officers, including statistics with regard to the numerical distribution of B-1 visas.

“When unemployment remains at a staggering 8.8 percent, we should be focusing our oversight efforts on employers who are taking advantage of the system and importing foreign workers to the detriment of Americans,” Grassley said.

Questioning the “B-1 in lieu of H-1B” policy currently in place, Grassley wrote: “Under this low threshold (of the B-1 visa), a company could import workers via the B-1 business visitor visa and evade the H-1B visa cap and prevailing wage requirements that would otherwise apply to such workers so long as the workers could show that their pay cheques were still coming from the foreign company.”

Grassley argued that American workers should be given first consideration by companies looking to import foreign workers.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)