Your local university or college may be shutting out American citizens in favor of foreign students that are hired with funds paid for by the American taxpayer!

http://www.internationalstudents4hire.c ... &section=2

USCIS has announced that, as of April 9, 2007, about a total of approximately 12,989 cases requesting an exemption from the FY 2008 H-1B cap because they were filed on behalf of aliens holding a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution. This leaves about 7,000 slots still available for aliens who have graduated from US institutions and hold Masters degrees.
In related news, USCIS also announced, as of April 9, that approximately 119,193 of the H-1B petitions received on April 2 and 3 are subject to the FY 2008 congressionally mandated cap. The press release does not explain whether or not this is all H-1B petitions or just the ones that USCIS has opened at this time.
Employers should keep in mind that there are several options available for cases that were shut-out as a result of the H-1(b) cap.

- As mentioned above, if the Beneficiary for employment is a graduate of a US Masters degree (or higher) program, a case may still be filed. There is a separate category for these candidates. You can monitor the progress of this quota on the USCIS' web site, here:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ ... f3d6a1RCRD

H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption

The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, which took effect on May 5, 2005, changed the H-1B filing procedures for FY 2005 and for future fiscal years. The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004 also makes available 20,000 new H-1B visas for foreign workers with a Master’s or higher level degree from a U.S. academic institution.

H-1B1

An H-1B1 is a national of Chile or Singapore coming to the Unites States to work temporarily in a specialty occupation. The law defines specialty occupation as a job that requires a bachelor’s degree or higher. The beneficiary must have a bachelor’s degree relating to the job offer. The combined statutory limit is 6,800 per year. The projected number of 5,800 unused H-1B1 visas for FY 2008 was incorporated and applied to the FY 2008 H-1B cap.

H-2B

The H-2B visa category allows U.S. employers in industries with peak load, seasonal or intermittent needs to augment their existing labor force with temporary workers. The H-2B visa category also allows U.S. employers to augment their existing labor force when necessary due to a one-time occurrence which necessitates a temporary increase in workers. Typically, H-2B workers fill labor needs in occupational areas such as construction, health care, landscaping, lumber, manufacturing, food service/processing, and resort/hospitality services.

On April 1, 2006, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting additional petitions for H-2B workers as required by the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 (SOS Act). The SOS Act allowed USCIS to accept filings beginning April 1, 2006 for workers seeking work start dates as early as October 1, 2006.

What is the H-2B numerical limit set by Congress?

The H-2B numerical limit set by Congress per fiscal year is 66,000. However, aliens who are eligible for H-2B status as "returning workers" do not count against the annual numerical cap. USCIS notes that the "returning worker" provisions of the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 (SOS Act) have been extended until September 30, 2007, which marks the end of FY 2007.

Why does USCIS authorize more H-2B workers than the statutory limit?

Employers often decide after submitting an H-2B petition that the workers are no longer needed. In other instances, some aliens never appear at the consular post for their visa interview following petition approval.

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God, what a mess...