IT major Infosys has flagged concerns around increased rejection of work visa applications, and said this could result in delays and increase in project costs for its clients.
The company has already been ramping local hiring in key markets like the U.S. to tackle increasing scrutiny around work visas by various governments.
“Recently, there has been an increase in the number of visa application rejections. This has affected, and may continue to affect, our ability to obtain timely visas and staff projects. As a result, we may encounter delays or additional costs in managing such projects,” Infosys said in a recent regulatory filing.
Changes refrain
Previously, Infosys had stated that stricter work visa norms across various markets like the U.S. and Australia will not ‘constrain’ its business growth as the IT firm is focussing on hiring locals and training workforce in these geographies.
“.... what we are building with this localisation approach is really gearing towards making sure that our business model evolves in the right way, without sacrificing the best elements of the business model for the future. So, I don’t think we see that this is going to constrain our business growth,” CEO Salil Parekh had said.
Over the past many months, there has been increased scrutiny over temporary work visas in various countries like the U.S. and Australia. This has prompted many Indian IT firms to tweak business models by reducing dependence on visas and hiring more people overseas. Infosys had said it would hire about 10,000 locals in the U.S. over two years.
