IT industry body Nasscom has rubbished Infosys whistleblower Jack B Palmer’s comments about H-1B visa workers having minimal skills and little business knowledge, at a Congressional hearing on immigration.
“H-1B workers are highly qualified, skilled workers and Palmer’s comments about them having no qualifications and having to be trained to do their jobs by Americans doesn’t hold true and is a nonstarter,” Shivendra Singh, Vice-President – Global Trade Development, Nasscom, told BusinessLine .
While Infosys refused to comment on Palmer’s latest claims, Shivendra Singh pointed out that the US economy is currently dynamic and powerful as it has attracted talent from all over the world. “Skilled immigrants have made a huge contribution to the US economy and everyone knows that,” he said.
Palmer’s visa fraud case against Infosys led to the company paying a $34-million settlement in October 2013 to the US Government, making it the largest immigration penalty ever levied against a company. He told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that H-1B visa workers from companies, such as Infosys and others, are just degree holders with no specialised talent and are displacing American workers in large numbers.
Countering that, Singh said “The US is facing a shortage in skilled workers in a number of areas, especially STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). H-1B visas fulfil a critical gap between demand and supply of talent in the US. While the national level of unemployment is 5.5 per cent, unemployment in STEM is much lower at 2.7 per cent, which is where most technology workers from India fall under.” On Palmer’s allegation that H-1B workers work full time in the US and pay no taxes, Singh said, “On the contrary, Indian technology companies contributed $4.5 billion in taxes to the US exchequer in 2013 and have been following the law.” The H-1B visa cap stands at 65,000, plus 20,000 for PhDs and highly educated people.
After losing a case that he filed against Infosys in 2012, Palmer filed a fresh case against Infosys and eight of its senior executives, accusing them of retaliating against him by denying him work, bonuses, promotions and terminating him. The case is still under litigation.