No Contrition at Infosys

By John Miano on November 8, 2013

I reported previously that Infosys has agreed to pay a $34 million fine for violating the law governing visitor visas. Infosys was sneaking workers into the United States using visitor visas rather than getting appropriate work visas.

Don Tennant has some interesting information on the Infosys settlement.

First, he reports that Michael Chertoff participated in the negations on behalf of Infosys. There is nothing like having former government officials cashing in on their government jobs on your side.

Don's most interesting report shows the lack of contrition at Infosys. This attitude is not surprising given the attitude one sees in the Indian press. The Indian press regards H-1B visas as a God-given right and anything that exploits that is fine.

Interestingly, the clearest expression of that view in the context of this story comes from Pakistan: Enforcing immigration law is oppression against "brown people". Rafia Zakaria writes:

Corporations are quick to complain about the obstacles to their access to various markets in the developing world, but never a word is said about the global caste system that allows workers with equal merit born in one part of the world to be deemed more deserving of a job than those born in another. An Indian engineer can be easily thwarted in his ambitions by the lack of a visa, while an American one is deemed deserving of infinite legal protections. A brown company favoring brown workers is deemed discriminatory; the white whistleblower deemed worthy of millions in reparations.

An otherwise ignorant reader might assume from Ms. Zakaria's commentary that India and Pakistan welcome white, black, and Asian American workers with open arms. (They do not.)

Of course the view that immigration law should be ignored can be found in the United States as well.

The problem of employers using visitor visas to sneak workers into the United States has existed since before the H-1B visa program even existed. This is something that is worth taking into consideration if Congress ever considers an immigration reform bill that actually reforms immigration.


Topics: Visa Fraud