The Hindu Business Line : 2 US Senators seek H-1B visa usage details from IT cos

New Delhi, April 3 Turing the heat on the H-1B visa debate, US Senators - Mr Dick Durbin and Mr Chuck Grassley - have shot-off letters to top 25 H-1B visas users — including Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Satyam – seeking detailed information on how each firm used the visa program. The latest salvo to these 25 companies — which collectively snapped-up 20,000 visas last year — comes at a time when the US has opened a five-day window for filing of H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2009.

The two senators have repeatedly been expressing concerns that the loopholes in the H-1B and L-1 visa programs were allowing outsourcing of American jobs. Besides the top four Indian IT services exporters, letters have also been sent to Cognizant Technology Solutions, Microsoft Corporation, Patni Computer Systems , US Technology Resources, i-flex Solutions, Intel Corporation and Accenture. Other recipients include Cisco Systems, Ernst & Young, L&T Infotech, Deloitte & Touche, Google, Mphasis Corporation, University of Illinois at Chicago, American Unit Inc, Jsmn International, Objectwin Technology, Deloitte Consulting, Prince Georges County Public Schools, JPMorgan Chase and Co, and Motorola.

When contacted, an Infosys spokesperson said that the company had not received the letter as yet. “We will review and respond to it, once we receive it,” the spokesperson said.

5-page letter

The letter running into five pages lists out questions such as the number of H-1B visa petitions filed and approved for each of the last five fiscals and fiscal 2009; whether a company has been a H-1B dependent employer for last five fiscals; whether or not the company would support legislation prohibiting a firm from hiring additional H-1B visa holders if it employs more than 50 people and over 50 per cent of the employees are H-1B and L-1 holders; the number of Labour Condition Applications (LCAs) submitted to Department of Labour and those approved.

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