Reality Check | Ephraim Schwartz | InfoWorld | Senators open inquiry of L-1 visa program | June 27, 2007 01:30 PM

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Senators open inquiry of L-1 visa program

June 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Senators open inquiry of L-1 visa program

In response to a bipartisan request by Senators Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services provided the names of all companies that use L-1 visas. Now Senators Grassley and Durbin are opening an inquiry into the program.

The full list is 354 pages long and starts with Tata Consultancy Services, which uses 4,887 visas, and drifts down to dozens of companies that use only one L-1.

Senators Grassley and Durbin expressed their concern that many of the top companies on the L-1 list also use H-1B visas, potentially indicating abuse of the program.

It is also worth noting that a number of the top 20 companies listed are major suppliers of offshoring and outsourcing services.

Here's an excerpt from Grassley and Durbin:

"The information provided today showed that many of the same companies identified as using the most H-1B visas were the same companies that used the most L visas. Under current law, employers can use the L visa program to evade restrictions on the H-1B program because it does not include protections for American workers. This demonstrates the need for additional checks on the L visa program."

I wrote about the problem with L-1 visas back in March 2006: "Homeland Security Probes L-1 Visa Abuses."

The column talked about the fact that the Department of Homeland Security issued a study the previous January on possible abuses of the L-1 visa program.

Here are some excerpts from that column.

"The program allows a foreign worker employed by a company overseas for at least one year to enter the United States temporarily, 'in order to continue to render his services to the same employer or a subsidiary or affiliate...in a capacity that is managerial, executive, or involves specialized knowledge.'

"According to Frank Robinson, CFO at Darwin Partners, insurance companies are bringing in foreign workers under L-1, providing food and lodging, but are paying the guest workers at the salary they were getting back home. If a typical programmer in the United States makes $60,000 to $80,000 per year, these workers are being paid as little as one-quarter of that. And they can stay as long as five to seven years.

"These workers may be employees of the insurance company; or worse, they could be employees of IT services companies, known as 'body shops,' who hire them out for a fee."

Here's one more excerpt from Grassley-Durbin.

"'This information certainly makes one wonder if companies are using the L visa to circumvent the worker protections required under the H-1B program. I'd like to know how many American workers these companies hire compared to the number of foreign workers they bring in,' Grassley said. 'American workers deserve the best chance at jobs in this country, and this data makes one question if they are too often overlooked.'"

Here is the list of the top 20 companies using the L visa.

Rank     Company       L-1 Visas in FY 2006
1       Tata Consultancy Services    4,887
2       Cognizant Tech Solutions    3,520
3       IBM Corp.    1,237
4       Satyam Computer Services    950
5       Wipro Limited    839
6       HCL America Inc.    511
7       Deloitte & Touche    512
8       Patni Computer Systems    440
9       Intel Corp.    394
10       Kanbay Inc.    329
11       Honeywell International    320
12       Hewlett-Packard Company    316
13       Infosys Technologies    294
14       Accenture LLP    291
15       Caritor Inc.    231
16       Schlumberger Tech. Corp.    214
17       Oracle USA    176
18       Syntel Ltd.    171
19       Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP    168
20       Microsoft Corp.    168