Infosys hires more Americans to counter visa dependence

Infosys, Indian IT major, is on an aggressive mission to hire more American workers in order not to depend too much on H-1B and other work visas. This year 2,144 native workers were hired in both North and South Americas, which is said to be the highest till now.

The US is the largest IT export market for India with over 60 percent shipments. Since temporary business visas are difficult to get in the US, Infosys has had to hire more US-born workers. In addition, the numbers of IT workers travelling to the US on H-1B visas are not adequate to fill the IT companies’ vacancies because there is cap of 85,000 on those visas. Under the L-1 visa scheme many applications from Indian techies get rejected.

Vishal Sikka, CEO of Infosys, is quoted by workpermit.com as saying that they continue to be dictated by visa problems. As Infosys wants to become independent of work visas, it has started hiring more local workers in the US.

Numbers this year reveal that Infosys has 23,594 staff in the US, with most making their way into that country through business visas. Its annual report showed that 11,659 of them had gone to the US on H-1B visas, and 1,364 on L1 visas.

To combat the visa issues in the US, Infosys had been hiring candidates from Africa, Europe and other Asian countries too.

Workpermit.com, quoting a Business Standard report, said that Infosys is not alone in increasing hiring in the US. Wipro is also said to be following suit.