Federal Inquiry Into Indian Firm Puts a Focus on Widespread Visa Abuses
A federal investigation into visa use by Infosys, the Indian technology outsourcing giant, has brought to light widespread abuses in the industry and prompted investigations into other foreign outsourcing firms, federal officials said Wednesday.In the largest settlement ever in an immigration case, Infosys admitted no visa violations but agreed Wednesday to pay $34 million to resolve claims made by federal prosecutors in Texas.
The amount of the settlement was relatively small for Infosys, a Bangalore-based global enterprise with 160,000 employees worldwide and reported revenues of $7.9 billion, 70 percent of it from consulting in the United States. But the case added to intensifying legal scrutiny and political skepticism in the United States facing Indian companies that use temporary visas to bring in thousands of guest workers each year for technology and software jobs in American companies.
