four Indian firms hogged 10,000 H1B visas

Indian IT giant Infosys tops the list of companies which were issued H-1B visas. It received as many as 4559 visas. Infosys is followed by Wipro Limited 2,678 and the maligned Satyam with 1,917 H-1B visas. The Tata Consultancy Service TCS got 1,539 H-1B visa.

Microsoft is the only non-Indian and also the only American company which got more than a 1000 H-IB visas issued. It received 1,037 visas in the year 2008,a little higher than the previous year. It is ranked fifth in the list of

companies,which were issued H-1B visas last year. Cognizant 467 and Larsen and Tourbo 403 are the other

two Indian companies to have figured in the top 10 of this list. IBM India too figures in top 10 with 381 visas. Among other US companies,Google got 248 visas and Lehman Brother,which became bankrupt last year had received 130 visas.

The USCIS report comes at a time when there has been a general animosity against the H-1B visas in the US,specially when the country is experiencing recession. The stimulus bill,the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act prevents American companies receiving federal bailout money from hiring those on H-1B visas.

The two Senators Chuck Grassley and Richard Durban who were instrumental in the imposition of restrictions of H-1B visa holders,have said that they are planning to introduce a legislation in the Congress to change the programme,which they claim have benefited the foreign workers. When as many as 3.6 million Americans have lost their jobs,it is time that the US companies should give preference to natives rather than hiring foreign workers,they argue.