Indian IT firms bag big chunk of H1B visas: Report

Top Indian IT companies account for the largest chunk of the H-1B work visas; which is primarily meant for tech professionals, a latest report has said.

Just four Indian companies alone last year accounted for more than 10,000 H-1B visas issued by the US, according to the latest data released by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the year ending September 2008.

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.