Problems With ‘Significant Percentage’ of U.S. Visa Documents, Infosys Says

Infosys executives have been advised that the United States Department of Homeland Security “has found errors in a significant percentage” of the company’s business visa documents, Infosys said in an April 18 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company and some of its employees are “targets of an investigation” by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas, the filing said. The New York Times first wrote about the investigation last June.

Here’s more information from Infosys’s regulatory filing:

On May 23, 2011, we received a subpoena from a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The subpoena requires that we provide to the grand jury certain documents and records related to our sponsorships for, and uses of, B1 business visas. We are complying with the subpoena. In connection with the subpoena, during a recent meeting with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas, we were advised that we and certain of our employees are targets of the investigation. We intend to have further discussions with the U.S. Attorney’s Office regarding this matter, however, we cannot predict the final outcome of the investigation by, or discussions with, the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS” or the “Department”) is undertaking a review of our employer eligibility verifications on Form I-9 with respect to our employees working in the United States. In connection with this review, we have been advised that the DHS has found errors in a significant percentage of our Forms I-9 that the Department has reviewed. In the event that the DHS ultimately concludes that our Forms I-9 contained errors, the Department would likely impose fines and penalties on us. At this time, we cannot predict the final outcome of the review by, or the discussions with, the DHS or other governmental authority regarding the review of our Forms I-9.

In light of the fact that, among other things, the foregoing investigation and review are ongoing and we remain in discussions with the U.S. Attorney’s Office regarding these matters, we are unable to make an estimate of the amount or range of loss that we could incur from unfavorable outcomes in such matters.

In the event that any government undertakes any actions which limit any visa program that we utilize, or imposes sanctions, fines or penalties on us or our employees, this could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.