More than 18,000 H-1B visas are still available
According to the latest figure update by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), approximately 46,700 of the H-1B visas in the general category were filled up by September 25; against a Congressional mandated figure of 65,000.
Thus, more than 18,000 H-1B visas are still to be filled up, even as the financial year began today.
Primarily meant for professionals from computers and information technology sectors, the H-1B visas have been one of the most sought after visas for foreign professionals in previous years. The US Citizenship and immigration Service (USCIS) have been receiving several times the number of the allocated quota.
However, this is for the first time in several years that thousands of H-1B visas are still to be filled up even at the start of the financial year.
This is unlike the previous years when the entire 65,000 visas were grabbed on day one. Many a times, the USCIS had to resort to a computerised lottery to determine the successful candidates.
It really is surprising !
As mentioned, during the previous years, all the slots used to be filled up within a couple of days !
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Hi Aswhin,
Thanks for the info.
Can u tell me, if H1b visas are given this year for nontechnical people also, who has 8 yrs exp in financial field and has a MBA.
Pls help by directing to right person...
Thanks a ton..
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This is the first year in the history of the H-1B program that there has been any H-1B visas left after the deadline.
This shows you how the financial institutions are getting cheap labor on the behalf of the US IT workers. They are not allowed to use H-1B workers if they took any stimulas money.
I guess you can call it a green card lottery for the Indians.
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This may be primarily because of the global recession we dealt with for the past few years. However, economy is firing up again and in no time, H-1B visas will be grabbed by employees around the globe.
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