Infosys receives summons by US court over B1 visa sponsorships

Following a complaint by a disgruntled US employee, authorities there are investigating Infosys Technologies to see whether the Indian software company repeatedly violated American visa laws in order to place its Indian employees in temporary jobs at some big corporate clients in the US.

Infosys confirmed in Bangalore on Tuesday that it has received a subpoena (summons) from a lower court in the US asking it to provide sponsorship details of B1 visas. A subpoena is a writ issued by a court of justice requiring a person to appear before the court at a specified time.

"We intend to comply with the subpoena and to cooperate with the grand jury's investigation. At this time, we are not able to comment further on this grand jury investigation, but do want to reiterate that we take our legal compliance obligations very seriously," Infosys said in a statement.

In a filing on Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said it "intends to comply with the subpoena and to cooperate with the grand jury's investigation".

The subpoena was sparked by a lawsuit filed in Alabama state court earlier this year by an Infosys employee named Jack Palmer Jr, alleging that Infosys misused the B-1 visa programme to send employees to work full-time in the US.

Palmer has alleged that this was done to overcome H1-B visa caps. The lawsuit was recently moved to federal court.