On Oct. 30, federal prosecutors in Texas announced they had reached a $34 million settlement [PDF] with Infosys Corporation regarding the company’s alleged visa fraud—the largest ever in a U.S. immigration case. The massive settlement raised some red flags for companies that contract with third-party vendors like Infosys to fill IT needs.
The Bangalore, India–based company, which provides IT outsourcing for many companies in the U.S., was accused of sending employees into the U.S. on limited-purpose B-1 visas for business travelers when they really required H-1B visas, which allow the recipient to work.
Since the announcement of the Infosys settlement, Ian Macdonald, a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig and a business immigration expert, told CorpCounsel.com he has been very busy consulting with clients on how they should better manage their own IT outsourcing—to avoid getting dragged down along with their third-party vendors if these vendors become the next Infosys.
“The mere fact that the government is focused on IT sourcing should get alarm bells ringing for any and all companies that have master service agreements with IT sourcing entities,” he said.
Macdonald said he’d advise companies that use overseas contractors to pull their master service agreements with these vendors and ensure all indemnification clauses are up-to-date—and consider mandating the use of E-Verify. And there are a number of other actions he believes companies should take to shore up visa and immigration visa compliance:
1. Evaluate Your Risks
Macdonald explained that one of the biggest errors that companies make when it comes to visa and immigration issues is setting company policies without doing risk assessments first. “It’s not enough to implement policy without finding what it is you’re trying to cure,” he said. Every company uses third-party vendors a bit differently, he added, so there is no “one-size-fits-all” set of policies.
2. Bring Stakeholders Together, Early
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