'i-flex staff in Netherlands have visas'

IT company i-flex solutions on Friday said that Senthil Kumar, chief executive of its Dutch-based subsidiary, had a valid British visa and a work permit when he was detained by the UK authorities on March 26 for alleged visa irregularities.

"He is stationed in UK and had a work permit for that country. He had just gone to Netherlands to attend a business conference for which he does not require a work permit as the visit was just for a few hours", a company spokesperson told PTI from Mumbai.

He, however, said the company is trying to know the exact reason for his detention.

About the 14 other company employees who have been asked to leave Netherlands, he said they had valid "business visas" and other travel related documents to operate in and around Netherlands to work for short periods.

Usually, a work permit takes 6-18 months to be issued from the date of application and we have applied for work permit for these workers and two-three of the applications are in advanced stage", the spokesperson said.

In the interim period usually short business visas are issued to carry on business and they are given for 90 days and after that they again have to be applied for, he said while adding all these formalities were met by the Indians working there.

However, about the reason behind Senthil's detention, he said it could be that since he was heading the Dutch operation, he could be questioned about these workers.

"Still we do not know the exact reason for the detention," he said.

Meanwhile, the Dutch government on Friday said the arrested IT professionals of I-Flex company did not have the required work permits but dismissed the charge that the action was against "Indian IT professionals".

It also said that it has sought the co-operation of British authorities in questioning the i-flex arm's chief executive detained in the UK, as i-flex is reported to be avoiding paying mandatory taxes.

"The arrested Indian nationals have been treated in a similar way as any other foreign employees involved in illegal employment. This particular case is certainly not an action against Indian IT professionals as has been portrayed in some Indian media," the embassy of Netherlands said in a statement in New Delhi.

It said during its routine duties, the Social Intelligence and Investigation Service of the Netherlands searched the premises of a Dutch information technology company and four financial institutions in the Centre and West of the Netherlands on March 26, 2003.

The IT company was under suspecion of illegal employment of workers from outside the European Union, the embassy said.

The search resulted in the arrest of the employees of i-flex solutions who were of Indian nationality. The Dutch authorities have established that although they seem to have valid Schengen short-stay visas, those arrested did not possess required work permits, it said.

"These Schengen short-stay visas were neither issued by the Royal Netherlands embassy in New Delhi nor the Netherlands consulate general in Mumbai," the embassy said.