Visa extradition case dropped
Bow Street Magistrates Court discharged the extradition proceedings against Senthil Kumar, CEO of the Dutch subsidiary of the Indian software giant, i-flex Solutions, on issues relating to alleged visa irregularities.
The discharge came after the Home Office did not issue a formal 'Authority to Proceed' which is an essential pre-condition to the commencement of extradition proceedings.
Mr Rajesh Hukku, Chairman & Managing Director, of i-flex solutions said: "i-flex and Senthil Kumar today stand vindicated. During the course of this ordeal we have truly been overwhelmed by the support we have received from all our well-wishers. We thank the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Information Technology, NASSCOM, customers, trade & industry and the media for their unstinting support and good wishes."
March raid
In March 2003, Dutch authorities raided the offices of i-flex and interviewed several employees about alleged visa issues. As a result, about a dozen computer programmers were told to leave the country within a week. At the time, it was reported that they did not have the necessary work permits and there were allegations of falsification of documents.
At the same time, Mr Kumar, the CEO of the Netherlands subsidiary who is based in London, was detained by the UK authorities on the request of their Dutch counterparts. He was held in custody for a week before being released on bail of a reported £20,000 and his passport was confiscated.
i-flex said it had initiated a high level effort in close collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of IT of India and NASSCOM (National Association of Software Companies in India) and the respective consulates to secure the immediate release from detention of Mr Kumar and was also working towards ensuring the early and safe return of the concerned i-flex employees and their families from Netherlands.
At the time, there were unsubstantiated reports that this was part of a global tightening of immigration controls and a crackdown on alleged visa discrepancies by Indian software houses.
i-flex i-flex is one of the top twenty software exporters and the largest product software company in India with revenues in excess of US$100 million. It has serviced more than 390 customers across 89 countries through its global operations with three subsidiaries across the world including the one in Amsterdam, which has been operational since May 2000 and specialises in providing software solutions for banking.
It claims that it endeavours to work closely with all key embassies and follows rigorous norms for compliance with all the local rules and regulations.
UK work permits
The fast track visa issue has been the subject of much debate and interest among UK freelancers. Many feel that this is unfair competition as some global companies use the regulations and bring in employees to undercut and replace freelancers.
There are several ways to bypass the usual restrictions which exist for non-EU workers entering the UK. The skills shortage list defines a number of specific skills, mainly in engineering and healthcare, which are deemed to be in short supply among the indigenous labour market. IT skills were removed from this list in September 2003 after the UK Government department with responsibility agreed that they were no longer in short supply.
Work permits are also awarded via the Intra Company Transfer Scheme where international companies have the freedom to move employees from country to country within the employment of their own organisation.