Bengaluru, Dec. 24 -- Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp and a former employee representing the US government are jointly approaching a US Court seeking review of a lower court order that mandates investigations into claims of non-payment of visa fees and related taxes to the US government. The move, depending on the outcome, could prevent a lengthy legal process and pave the way for a settlement. On December 15, Cognizant and Jean-Claude Franchitti, formerly an assistant vice-president with the company acting as a whistleblower for the government, filed a joint motion to the US Court of Appeals to do away with a New Jersey district court's order from two years ago that permitted a court trial on claims of Cognizant's alleged withholding of H-1B visa fees and taxes to the US. The motion has been reviewed by Mint. The genesis of the case goes back to 2023 when Franchitti, representing the US government, said Cognizant had knowingly concealed, misused, and brought employees to the US on other visas, thereby paying lower dues to the government. Franchitti said Cognizant applied for L-1 and B-1 visas for certain employees who did the work coming under the ambit of H-1B visa holders, thereby depriving the (US) government of higher filing fees required for H-1B visas. According to Franchitti's complaint, the IT outsourcer "depriv[ed] the government of $1,000 [or] $6,300 in filing fees" per visa. As of now, a H-1B, L-1, and B-1 visa application fee costs $6,460, $5,460, and $160, respectively. While H-1B visas allow skilled immigrants to work in the US for specialised roles, L-1 visas are for managerial employees wanting to transfer to the US whereas B-1 visas are for short business trips. Homegrown IT outsourcers are the largest users of H-1B visas in the US. Cognizant got 3,172 H-1B visas last fiscal, making it the eighth-largest user of such visas. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, or TCS, is the only large homegrown IT outsourcer to use more H-1B visas. The Cognizant case is not the first such one in US courts over visa violations by Indian IT outsourcing companies. In the past, TCS, Infosys Ltd, and HCL Technologies Ltd have been engaged in court cases pertaining to non-immigrant work visas. Franchitti added that Cognizant paid its H-1B employees lower wages than the minimum amount established by law, thereby depriving the government of payroll tax revenue. In contrast, Cognizant said that it was not bound to pay extra money to the US government for visas it did not apply for. It also said it was not liable to pay the government taxes for salaries it did not pay those employees. Still, in August, 2023, the New Jersey district court held that Franchitti's case had merit as he "alleged [an] ongoing conscious business practice to circumvent the immigration regulations," which resulted in "reduced government revenue". Notably, the joint appeal states that there were contradictory verdicts by other district courts in cases involving other homegrown IT outsourcers. As the parties went on with the discovery process after the New Jersey court's verdict, two separate orders by other courts were passed opposing the New Jersey Court order. Then, both parties decided that a temporary order had to be sought....