BENGALURU: L&T Technology Services (LTTS), a pure-play engineering services firm, has agreed to pay USD 9,928,000 to resolve allegations that it underpaid visa fees (between 2014 and 2019) owed to the US by acquiring inexpensive B-1 visas, rather than more expensive H-1B visas, in violation of the False Claims Act, said the US Attorney’s Office District of South Carolina.
LTTS is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. B-1 visas don’t permit visa holders to perform paid labour in the US and fees for these visas were between USD 200 and USD 300. Also, there is no limit on the number of B-1 visas that could be issued. On the other hand, H-1B visas, which permit foreign nationals to perform paid labour, are difficult to obtain as the annual cap is 65,000. The fees for such work visas were between USD 4,000 to USD 6,000.
“The probe leading to this settlement was initiated through the filing of a whistleblower complaint in the United States District Court in Charleston, South Carolina,” said the US Attorney Office in a statement.
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. LTTS has denied liability, is cooperating with the United States in this matter, and has taken significant steps to ensure compliance with U.S. visa laws, it added.
When asked about it, LTTS said, “We have been cooperating with the government on this matter for over three years and are pleased to have reached a resolution. Adherence to the laws of the land and visa compliance are a priority for LTTS and we hve policies to ensure they continually conform with the complex and evolving regulations.”
“There is no impact on our financials due to the settlement. We have provided for this amount over the past quarters and therefore the quarterly and annual financials, which will be released later this month, will not be impacted,” it added.
Visa fraud settlement
L&T Technology Services to pay USD 9.9 million settle US visa fraud allegations
The firm allegedly had acquired B-1 visas instead of H-1B visas
Visa fee for B-1 work is nearly USD 200-300, H-1B visas cost about USD 4k-6k
LTTS is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services
It has over 21,600 employees across 22 global design centres, 28 global sales offices and 91 innovation labs as of Dec