US Senator Charles Schumer calls Infosys 'chop shop'

Bill to seek application fee hike in H-1B and L1 visas

PTI | August 9, 2010



Criticising companies outsourcing highly-paid American jobs, a US Senator has described Indian IT major Infosys as a "chop shop", a place where stolen cars are dismantled and parts sold separately.

The comments were made by Democrat Senator of New York Charles E Schumer during discussions on the Border Security Bill, a USD 600-million emergency package aimed at strengthening security along the porous Mexican border.

"The emergency border funds will be paid for by assessing fees on foreign companies known as chop shops that outsource good, high-paying American technology jobs to lower wage, temporary immigrant workers from other countries.

"These are companies such as Infosys," Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday.

The comments made during the discussion are posted on the Senate website.

When contacted, an Infosys spokesperson said the company would not like to comment on the Senator's remarks.

Schumer also pointed out the bill would not affect the high-tech companies such as Intel or Microsoft that play by the rules and recruit workers in America.

The USD 600 million-spending bill approved by the Senate would see significant hike in application fees for H-1B and L1 visas, which are most sought after by Indian IT professionals.

The proposed bill would hike the visa fee to USD 2,000 per application on those entities that have less than 50 per cent of their employees as US citizens.

Infosys has thousands of employees in the US. For the three months ended June 30, the company had raked in 67.3 per cent of its total revenues from North America.

After the passage of the bill in the Senate, Democrat Senator of Missouri Claire McCaskill on Thursday said the proposal would increase fees for particular companies that exploit two categories of visas -- H-1B and L.

"A handful of foreign-controlled companies that operate in the United States such as Wipro, Tata, Infosys and Satyam rely on H-1B and L visas to import foreign workers to the US.

"The Senate Democrats' border security proposal would increase the visa fees paid by these companies by roughly USD 2,000 per visa application," she had said in a statement.

 

Comments

 

Other News

How the flora and fauna evolved in the Indian subcontinent

Mammals of India  By A.J.T. Johnsingh and P.O. Nameer HarperCollins India in association with Bombay Natural History Society  

India`s renewable race is moving beyond megawatts

When Shell bought Sprng Energy in 2022, India`s renewable energy market appeared to offer precisely what global energy majors were seeking: scale, growth and a place in one of the world`s largest energy transitions. Four years later, Shell is selling the same business to Aditya Birla Group for an enterpris

Nepal Floods: India keeps close watch on the situation

India`s central government has been keeping a close watch on the situation arising out of the flash flood in Nepal on Wednesday. Union home minister Amit Shah spoke with the chief ministers of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the two states that share the border with Nepal, regarding the disaster

UPI completes 10 years of digital payments revolution

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched on August 25, 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has completed 10 years of transforming digital payments in India. UPI has emerged as the backbone of India’s digi

Here’s an I.D.E.A. for career growth and success

Success in today’s professional organisation is no longer solely determined by academic qualifications, technical expertise or years of experience. While these attributes do matter, organisations increasingly value individuals who demonstrate the right mindset and behavioural qualities. The ability

PM interacts with CEOs, founders of space startups

Prime minister Narendra Modi interacted with CEOs and Founders of 20 Space Startups at Seva Teerth on Friday.   CEOs of leading companies in the space sector working in diverse fields ranging from building rockets and reusable semi-cryogenic launch vehicles, avionics, satelli

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter