Bengaluru: Infosys chartered a flight to bring back 206 people — 76 employees and their families — from the United States. The visas of these people were nearing expiry or have expired.
According to a The Times Of India report, several employees took to social media to laud the company’s gesture and the management’s efforts to prioritise safety of employees. NASSCOM had requested US authorities for a 90-day grace period for professionals to depart the US following their H-1B/L-1 visa expiration. But there’s been no change in the US stance on this so far.
Infosys’ associate vice-president Sanjeev Bode in a LinkedIn post said, “Some of the Infosys employees were stranded in the US because of their visa expiration. All international flights were suspended because of the pandemic. Infosys came to their rescue. The company booked a chartered flight exclusively for over 200 employees and families from the US to India. At the time of writing, the flight has landed safely in Bengaluru, bringing an end to weeks of dilemma related to the uncertain situation.”
The report further added, the immigration lawyers have informed that visa extension requests are still paper-based with the pandemic forcing people to work remotely, stranded employees aren’t getting any relief.
Qatar Airways’ Bengaluru-bound flight left from San Francisco with the employees on Monday morning.
Infosys has 17,709 employees in the Americas and less than 50 per cent of the employees are on H-1Bs and L-1s.
H-1B visas allow employees to remain in the US for up to six years as speciality occupation professionals. L-1 visas are used for intra-company transfers, and allow employees to stay for up to five years.
