Indian Outsourcers get more H-1B visas than anyone else

Posted by Jim Stroud

March 7, 2008

Have you guys heard the latest controversy over H-1B visas? BusinessWeek did a story on how Indian Outsourcers topped the list of companies bringing foreign workers to the US on the H-1B program. Hmm… I bet somebody is getting a healthy markup on those contract rates.

Here is a snippet from the article…

The controversy over visas for high-skilled workers from abroad looks like it’s about to get even hotter.

The program for what are known as H-1B visas was originally set up to allow companies in the U.S. to import the best and brightest in technology, engineering, and other fields when such workers are in short supply in America. But data just released by the federal government show that offshore outsourcing firms, particularly from India, dominate the list of companies awarded H-1B visas in 2007. Indian outsourcers accounted for nearly 80% of the visas approved last year for the top 10 participants in the program. The new data are sure to fuel criticism of the visa program from detractors such as Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). “These numbers should send a red flag to every lawmaker that the H-1B visa program is not working as it was intended,” said Grassley in an e-mail.

Infosys Technologies (INFY) and Wipro (WIT), both based in Bangalore, top the list of visa recipients in 2007, with 4,559 and 2,567 approved visa petitions, respectively, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. Each visa allows the companies to bring one worker to the U.S., where they have substantial operations providing tech support and other services to corporations, complementing services provided from India. Overall, six of the top 10 visa recipients in 2007 are based in India; two others among the top 10, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) and UST Global, are headquartered in the U.S. but have most of their operations in India.

Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC) are the only two traditional U.S. tech companies among the top 10. Microsoft received 959 visa approvals, or one fifth as many as Infosys, while Intel got 369.

READ: Guess Who’s Getting the Most Work Visas

And just in case you are interested, BusinessWeek has put together a lovely chart on the top 200 companies who received the most visa approvals in 2007. Just click the chart below for a closer look. (Interesting reading…)