After being suspended by the US Embassy for three months, software companies Tata Consultancy Services and IBM have been re-instated into a programme that facilitates speedy processing of temporary US work visas for employees.
The companies, along with three other home-bred software services firms, were suspended in 2010 for alleged irregularities in visa applications submitted to the business executive programme (BEP) of the US Embassy.
A communication between Senator Grassley and the US Department of Labour said that five large employers (in India) were suspended from BEP due to “fraud discovered in visa applications filed by purported employees”.
In fact, Minister Counsellor for Consular Affairs, Mr James Herman, was recently quoted in the Indian media as saying that there has been an increase in the number of cases where Indian and US-based companies (with offices in India) have circumvented H-1B visa restrictions by sending people from India to the US on Blanket L visas for work that doesn't qualify under the Blanket L visa category.
While both the H1-B and L1 visas belong to the non-immigrant category, the H1-B visa is more lucrative as it is valid for three years. L-1 visas are for a much shorter duration and are used by employees who are transferred to the US offices of a company.
A TCS spokesperson said: “In 2010, due to one erroneous filing of a visa application under the BEP program the company was not allowed to participate in the programme for 3 months. Post verification, it was determined that it indeed was a human error and the company was reinstated in the programme immediately.”
Neither confirming nor denying the issue, the IBM spokesperson said that the company complied with applicable laws and regulations in the conduct of its business, “which includes meeting the expected high levels of compliance of the BEP programme.”
BEP is designed to speed up business-related visa applications and interviews for companies that have a requirement of sending large numbers of employees to the US.