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Indian Geeks Log on to Meet Immigration Challenges
September 20, 2005
NEW DELHI: A globally mobile workforce could well be the next big thing for Indian software industry. Large Indian IT players as well as MNCs worldwide are increasingly grappling with diverse immigration norms and compliance issues for which they need IT solutions.
Companies like Wipro and Infosys, for instance, use more than 3,000 L1 and H1B work permits annually to send their employees on assignments to the US. “On an average about 10-12 thousand of our employees, on different visas, travel across the world in a year,” says Bikramjit Maitra, head HRD, Infosys Technologies.
Indeed, different geographies with complex immigration and work permit compliance issues are proving a big challenge for companies with a mobile workforce. “Immigration issues are always a challenge to companies like ours with global operations. We need to plan ahead and forecast work permit requirements with a fairly sound probability. Visa readiness planning is key to our business and is an integral part of our annual planning process,” says Mini Khanna Chaudhuri, senior manager, CMS and International HR, Patni Computer Systems.
“We have a defined number of our software personnel visas ready for travel overseas. Employees travel for various reasons be it business development or project work and travel is planned based on the legal requirements defined by the respective countries being travelled to by the employees. We ensure compliance with the help of an in-house team that understands legal immigration needs with the help of a wide network of associations and lawyers in various countries,” she adds.
And while many of the Indian IT companies do their own visa planning and processing with the assistance of lawyers, they are building up their own software and IT systems to handle immigration as well.
“At Infosys, some of the activities are internally handled and rest of the activities are advised and supported by immigration specialists across the globe. Our immigration solutions are designed based on specific country/ business unit requirements and we have developed an application internally to manage our immigration needs. Many vendors are offering this as a product and Infosys is focusing on customised business solutions to our clients at this point of time,” says Mr Mitra.
He also feels that India could emerge as an outsourcing hub in the immigration software support business. “In this competitive world, to be efficient, usage of technology is a must. Since immigration is a domain, law firms who use technology to their advantage will be more efficient and competitive,” he adds.
There are companies which are outsourcing their complete global immigration management too. Motorola Inc, for instance, recently selected INSZoom, a start-up in California founded by an Indian American, as the preferred platform for managing global immigration at its worldwide offices.
Belkis Muldoon, director of Global Immigration Services at Motorola, says, “We did not wish to be tied to any client or law firm’s environment, and we needed a system that would allow us full control of the process. As our international migration grows, we need software that can offer true automation, and open integration with our other
IT environments.”
INSZoom has a flagship Global Immigration Management System that includes HR corporate module, immigration team module, foreign national module, global partner module, compliancy module and e-filing module. It has a product to handle Canadian immigration and plans to set up operations in UK and Australia soon.
“The market for immigration software and services can be pegged at around $1bn in the US and $4-5bn outside. We have different product lines for different segments and are addressing law firms, corporates in the US and various geographies outside the US,” says Umesh Vaidyamath, CEO of INSZoom, which has a development centre in Bangalore.
“India has a huge number of globally mobile executives who need to remain compliant with immigration norms. Besides, the advantages of outsourcing software development to India needs no explanation. Hence, the country could emerge as a hub for the development of immigration systems as well as a big market,” he adds.
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