The H-1B temporary foreign visa has been manipulated by lobbyists to favor Indian citizens over other nationalities.


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USCIS to accept H1B applications from April 1 – fiscal 2011 H1B

By Muruganandham Krishnan on 10 March, 2010, 9:53 am

The USCIS to start accepting the applications for H-1B visas from April one for the fiscal 2011. H-1B is the most sought visa by Indians. In a statement, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it will accept petitions for 65,000 H-1B visas as mandated by the Congress.

The first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals who have earned a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from this 65,000 cap. If needed, USCIS will randomly select the number of petitions required to reach the numerical limit from the petitions received on the final receipt date. US business firms use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in their occupations which are specialized fields like scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.

Last year, mainly due to the global economic recession, the cap on H-1B visa was reached on December 22. This was unlike previous years when the cap was reached within the first few days of USCIS starting to accept H-1B petitions. As a result, USCIS had to resort to computerized draw of lots to determine successful applicants.

Infosys which received the maximum of 4559 H-1B visas in the fiscal 2008, received just 440 H-1B visas in the fiscal 2009. Similarly, Wipro, which got 2,678 H-1B visas in 2008, received just 1,964 H-1B visas in 2009; but still topped the list in the fiscal 2009. In 2008, four out of the top five companies bagging the maximum number of H-1B visas were grabbed by Indian companies. These were Infosys (4,559), Wipro (267, Satyam (1917) and Tata Consultancy Services (1539). Microsoft with 1037 H1-1B visas was the only US company to figure in top five.

However, the situation has changed dramatically in the year 2009 because of bankruptcy and global economical slowdown. Since the opportunities started flowing down quite well, this year it is expected to reach the cap well within the first week of April.