Infosys Settles Visa Case With New York

By Douglas MacMillan 

Indian outsourcing giant Infosys Ltd. agreed to pay $1 million to settle claims that it placed foreign workers in jobs in New York without obtaining proper visas or paying high enough wages or taxes for their work, the state's attorney general said Friday.

The Bangalore-based company previously paid $34 million to settle allegations brought by the U.S. Department of Justice that it systematically abused U.S. visa regulations by bringing foreign workers into the country on part-time travel visas, rather than standard H-1B work visas, in 2010 and 2011.

New York pursued Infosys for allegedly depriving the state of taxes it would have collected had the company paid higher wages to foreign workers, a spokesman for the state's attorney general said in a statement.

In a statement, Infosys said it committed no wrongdoing and denies all the allegations brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. "Infosys maintains robust policies and procedures to ensure adherence with all applicable regulations and laws," the company said in a statement.

The settlement comes amid growing scrutiny of Indian tech firms for their heavy use of the H-1B visa program for highly skilled foreign workers. President Donald Trump has criticized the practices of firms like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., the two largest Indian IT services firms by revenue, arguing the tens of thousands of workers they send to the U.S. every year could be taking jobs away from Americans.

Infofys earlier this year warned of slower revenue growth than expected due to the increasing scrutiny of worker visas. The company announced plans to hire some 10,000 American workers in the U.S. over the next two years to help serve clients in the financial services, manufacturing, retail and other sectors.

Write to Douglas MacMillan at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2017 16:01 ET (20:01 GMT)

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