Indian IT firm Infosys to hire 10,000 American workers

An Indian company that has been accused of abusing the H-1B visa process says it will hire 10,000 American workers over the next two years.

Bangalore-based Infosys, which has been criticized in testimony before Congress over its use of the H-1B visa program, announced today that it will open four new US-based "Technology and Innovation Hubs" to serve Infosys clients in financial services, manufacturing, health care, and other industries. The first one will open in Indiana by August and is expected to create 2,000 jobs there by 2021.

The move comes shortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order asking agencies to study changes to the H-1B program, which is largely used to hire technology workers. Members of Congress from both parties have introduced bills this year that would change the H-1B program dramatically.

In 2013, Infosys was the number two user of H-1B visas in the tech sector, having grabbed 6,269 visas. Only another India-based outsourcer, Tata Group, had more, with 6,822 visas. In 2014, Tata again acquired the most visas, gaining entry for 5,650 H-1B workers. Infosys was the third-biggest user that year, with 3,454.

The main accusation against Infosys and its competitors is that they gamed the visa process by flooding the system with applications by paying workers an average wage that was high enough to get plenty of visas but still well below the market for skilled US tech jobs. In 2013, Infosys paid its H-1B workers a median wage of $65,631.

This year, the Department of Justice warned companies that use H-1B visas to not discriminate against US employees. As the US government began considering changes to the H-1B, stocks of Indian outsourcing firms like Infosys, Tata, and Wipro lost value.

It isn't yet clear how many of this year's 85,000 H-1B visas will go to Infosys and its competitors. The visa application period ended last month after just five days, as it has for several years now.

"In the fast-changing world of today, we need the ability to be local," said Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka in an interview with Bloomberg. "We need to be trusted by our customers as being local. To work with a mix of global and local talent is absolutely the right thing to do."

"It's so good to welcome Infosys to Indiana," said Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb in an Infosys statement about the Indiana technology center. "I look forward to working with Infosys to elevate Indiana to the next level."