Notwithstanding the tightening of immigration norms to the US, Tata Consultancy Services has filed for a higher number of H-1B visas this year.

The company has applied for more than the 5,900 H-1B visas it sought last year to cater to the increasing demand for onsite IT services and cushion against ‘rejection of applications’.

“We see a pent-up demand in the US market as the recessionary trends are slowly fading away. Moreover, we have to factor in visa rejection rates, which have been in the range of over 80 per cent for L-1 visas,” said Ajoy Mukherjee, Executive Vice-President and Head, Global Human Resources.

Rejections are increasingly becoming common for H-1B applicants, analysts said. However, Mukherjee did not reveal the exact number of H-1B filings the company made this year.

While both the H1-B and L-1 visas are non-immigrant visas, the H1-B visa is more lucrative as it is valid for three years. L-1 visas are for a much shorter duration and are used by employees who are transferred to the US offices of a company.

The US started accepting applications for H-1B visas, the most sought after work visa by Indian IT professionals, from April 1. Almost 1.24 lakh H-1B visa applications were received for the 65,000 slots available within the first five days.

Separately, TCS is planning to hire more than 1,600 persons in the US this fiscal, said Mukherjee. It will approach over 150 campuses for this. Indian IT companies now have more reasons to hire locally thanks to a draft US immigration law aims to limit the number of workers that companies can send to the US.

“Our immediate reaction will be to engage actively in the process, with Nasscom and other companies, to come out with a clear articulation of our views. We do not know what final form the bill would take and so we have to worry about the various scenarios and their impact on TCS,” said N. Chandrasekaran, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

adith@thehindu.co.in

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