Bangalore: Software majors Infosys and Wipro today (Feb 5, 2004) denied charges by American labour organisations that that they had abused L-1 Visa regulations.

"Infosys fully complies with Visa statutes and regulations in letter and in spirit. Infosys adheres to this regulation and does not differentiate between H1 and L-1 pay scales, although not legally mandated," Infosys CEO and Managing Director Nandan M Nilekani said in a statement.

A Wipro spokeswoman said the question of abusing of any type does not arise and the Company complied with requirements of Visa laws.

"We believe that we are in total compliance with the requirements of Visa laws. The question of their abuse does not arise," she told reporters.

Infosys said L-1 Visa regulations stipulated that only employees with specialised knowledge or holding managerial or executive positions could file an application.

"Most of our employees stay in the US for the duration of the project, which is typically one to two years, and return to the home country," Nilekani said.

Infosys continues to work with Governments and consulates of the countries in which it operates in order to ensure that it fully understands and correctly interprets the immigration regulations, the statement said.

Michael W Gildea, Executive Director of the Department of Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, US's largest labour federation told the House International Relations Committee yesterday (Feb 4) accusing Indian IT firms such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro of "abusing" the L-1 Visa programme to bring in cheap manpower to take over American jobs.