As previously reported on October 29, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently announced a record-setting fine against Infosys, a leading India-based technology, consulting and outsourcing company and one of the largest employers of H-1B visa holders, for misusing the B visa program to unlawfully employ foreign national personnel inside the U.S. The landmark settlement agreement, formally announced on October 30, 2013, also revealed that the company had systematically failed to maintain Form I-9 compliance, resulting in a $5 million penalty to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an office of Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), alone.

Despite the company’s recent efforts to improve its Form I-9 compliance policy, including enrollment in E-Verify and a new Form I-9 electronic system, the DOJ alleged that "Infosys failed to maintain I-9 records for many of its foreign nationals in the United States in 2010 and 2011 as required by law, including a widespread failure to update and re-verify the employment authorization status of a large percentage of its foreign national employees." Specifically, the federal government’s audit of the company’s Form I-9 records revealed that "more than 80 percent of Infosys’s I-9 forms for 2010 and 2011 contained substantive violations." As a result, in addition to paying a precedent-setting fine, Infosys must submit to additional audits by an independent third-party auditor for a minimum of two years.