Now that we are aware that Indian offshore outsourcing companies have been the recipients of about 80% of the H-1B visas for the program’s top 10 participants in 2007, let’s take a closer look at how they were allocated.

The lion’s share, amounting to 4,559, went to Bangalore’s Infosys Technologies (INFY). That was followed by Wipro, also Bangalore based, with 2,567 visa petitions approved. (Of its 9,000 employees in the United States, Infosys has 7,500 employees on H-1B visas, while Wipro has 4,000 employees in the U.S of which 2,500 are on H-1B visas).

The other 2007 visa recipients included UST Global and Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) both of which are based in the U.S. but operate from India.
Only two American companies, Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC) figured in the to p 10. Whereas Microsoft obtained 959 visa petition approvals, Intel had to be satisfied with 369.
In spite of this American tech businesses are asking Congress to increase the number of visas from 65,000 a year to a minimum of 115,000.
This is sure to cause much heartburn with critics already accusing the outsourcers of abusing the American program. While the visas are expected to help boost the U.S. economy they feel they are doing the opposite by eliminating jobs and thus chipping away at the American economy. They feel the program’s standards can be tightened were the companies first be obliged to attempt employing Americans and also be obligated to guarantee that American personnel will not be supplanted by these visa employees.
Two senior legislators, Senators Grassley and Durbin have already initiated legislation for overhauling the H-1B and L-1 visa programs with the aim of giving American workers priority and of cracking down on unprincipled companies that dispossess eligible Americans of high-skill jobs.
Companies are now being asked to reveal details of the number of visas they hold, the wages paid, what efforts have been made to recruit eligible American workers, and whether any American workers have experienced the outsourcing of their responsibilities.
In their defense these two leading companies, Infosys and Wipro have declared earlier on that they are not misusing the program. In the past, they’ve said the jobs they fill in the U.S. are higher skilled than those in India, and involve custom software development and sales.