Infosys brings back 200 stranded employees, kin amid COVID-19, new US visa rules

India's second-largest software developing firm Infosys has brought back over 200 of its employees and their families -- some of them whose visas were expired -- in a chartered flight from the United States in the wake of coronavirus crisis. The IT firm's chartered flight took off from San Francisco and landed in Bengaluru on Monday.

"COVID has impacted our lives in unimaginable ways. Some of the Infosys employees were stranded in the US because of their visa expiration. All international flights were suspended because of the pandemic," Sanjeev Bode, an Infosys senior executive wrote on his LinkedIn page.

Recently, the US administration extended the ban on immigration and non-immigrant worker visas, including H-1B and H-2B till the end of 2020. America has a cap of 85,000 total H-1B visas for each year, which is most popular among Indian IT companies

After the H1B visa ban, several Indian IT employees have stranded in the US. In fact, NASSCOM  had requested the US administration for a 90-day grace period for professionals to depart the country due to the visa ban. However, the US government has not taken any initiative so far.

Infosys has 17,709 employees in the US, and many of its Indian employees continue to be based in the US on H1-B visas, The Times of India reported.  Interestingly, the US market has contributed 61.6 per cent to the Infosys' revenue as of the quarter ended March.  Last year, it opened a technology centre at Phoenix, Arizona, to accelerate innovation for its American enterprises.

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