The "apply in April and spend six months in limbo" structure of the H-1B program seems like it would heavily favor multinational companies that can hire someone for a position abroad, and relocate them to the US if their visa comes through. I wonder if that's why Infosys et al account for such a large portion of the H-1B pool.
Can anyone more familiar with the situation comment on whether this is how the process actually works? Do people who would be Infosys employees in the US continue to work for Infosys in India if their visa application gets rejected?
Large multinationals that hire abroad and then bring workers to the U.S. typically have a blanket L-1 and bring their foreign workers over on those visas. Depending on the country these workers can remain on their L-1 for anywhere from 3 months to 5 years. The L-1 is designed to allow companies to transfer their employees between offices in various countries easily.
I can't speak directly to what infosys does but another large Indian company that has a lot of H-1Bs has them because they don't qualify for the L-1 since their employees aren't technically transfers and come to the U.S. to work as employees for the Indian company and as a contractor to the U.S. companies (essentially). This particular company does continue to employ their workers when they come back to India as they have work for other countries and internal projects the labor can be used for.
If you are talking about people who get hired in India, then yes they continue to work for Infosys. I am not sure about what will happen to people who get hired in the US(like international students).
Companies like Infosys are large enough that there is always another project where you can move to even if you dont get a visa.
Depending on what the classification of the U.S. student hire is they may qualify for extensions. For example an F-1 student that is nearing the end of their OPT work period (90-120 days) and is working towards a STEM degree can get an F-1 STEM OPT extension of 17 months. The employer they are working for must also be enrolled in E-Verify to qualify to employ an F-1 student with a STEM extension.
Then you have Cap-Gap. An F-1 student that has completed their OPT period and with a pending or approved H-1B petition may qualify to remain in F-1 status and get extended work authorization until Sept 30th (H-1B status and work authorization periods start on Oct 1). USCIS publishes the specifics for each fiscal year about Cap-Gap.
Can anyone more familiar with the situation comment on whether this is how the process actually works? Do people who would be Infosys employees in the US continue to work for Infosys in India if their visa application gets rejected?