Our US workforce requiring sponsorship for immigration is a minority: Infosys CEO on H-1B visa

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India’s second-largest information technology (IT) firm said that the number of employees requiring sponsorship for H-1B visas is a minority within its US workforce. This comes amid proposed changes in the US immigration policy, specifically a 1000 percent fee hike on H-1B.

H-1B visas are non-immigrant visas that allow US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and IT.

Speaking at the company’s press conference after declaring the results, CEO Salil Parekh said, “In our US workforce, the number of people requiring sponsorship for immigration are a minority. We have set up a large number of centers and hubs focused on digital innovation, technology and AI in the US."

"We have relationships with universities and have training facilities there. With all of that in mind, we are clear today that we will work with our clients without any disruptions. We don’t have any specific numbers to share there," he added.

Parekh shared that Infosys has a wide-spread network of delivery centers and hubs across Canada, Europe, Latin America among other geographies.

In January, the Bengaluru-headquartered firm announced that it had significantly reduced its reliance on H-1 B visas, as over 60 percent of its US workforce is now comprised of locals.

The comments come a month after the US government raised the H-1B visa fee to $100,000 a year, triggering concerns over short-term disruptions in workforce deployment for IT companies in North America.

Following the announcement on September 23, the Department of Homeland Security also unveiled a proposal to overhaul the lottery-based H-1B visa system by introducing a wage-based selection process prioritising higher-paid, higher-skilled applicants.

In Q2, Infosys’ offshore employees made up -- percent of the workforce while the rest were onsite.

Last week, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said it has significantly reduced its dependency on H-1B and only about 500 of its associates travelled to the United States on new H-1B visas.