The Hindu Business Line : Visa row: IT cos ethically managed, says Nasscom

Stung by the statements made by US Senators Mr Richard Durbin and Mr Chuck Grassley on alleged ‘abuse’ of the L-visa system by outsourcing firms, the Indian IT industry has struck back saying that most companies sponsoring a large number of visas were publicly-listed and ethically managed.

“In fact, most of the companies that sponsor a large number of visas are publicly listed and ethically managed companies. Visa abuse, if any, would tend to be lesser in such organisations as compared to other small, fly-by-night operators — an area that may need more attention,” a Nasscom statement said here.

The software association said that there was little evidence of such fraud, or that restricting the number of H-1 B visas to a certain proportion of employees in companies of a certain size, would have any effect on visa fraud.

‘Beneficial to all’

When contacted, a TCS spokesperson said that temporary work visas are beneficial to US corporations, the larger US economy as well as American and Indian technology companies. “TCS has always complied with all relevant regulations in the US, both at the Federal and State levels,” a TCS spokesperson said. Incidentally, TCS had topped the list of L-Visa users for FY2006 brought out by the two Senators. TCS had 3,046 H-1B visas for FY2006 and 4,887 L-visas for the same period.

Nasscom statement further said that it had not yet received any response or acknowledgement to the letter sent to the Senators earlier and was looking forward to a positive engagement that addressed issues of concern without disrupting the growing two-way trade between India and the US.

Extending their full support to address any possible fraud or malpractices regarding H1-B and L visas, Nasscom pointed out that Indian companies appreciated the concerns on visa fraud and believed that any such activity should be dealt with in the strictest possible manner. “Nasscom and Indian companies will be happy to work with the appropriate US authorities to help in this,” it pointed out.

The comments come after the two Senators alleged that foreign outsourcing companies were “abusing” the L-Visa programme. They cited data from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services point out that top 20 H1-B users — which include Indian IT companies such as TCS, Satyam, Wipro and Infosys — were also the heaviest users of L-Visas (used for intra-company transfers) in fiscal 2006.

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