H1B visas gone in a day

The nationality breakdown of visa-holders is not given. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS, which processes applications for the H-1B programme, is no longer accepting petitions for visas for initial employment for this fiscal year, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The visas, which allow skilled foreign workers to work in the US for up to six years, have frequently been used by technology companies. That the cap has been reached as of the first day of the fiscal year is sure to stir up debate over the visa programme, cnet said. Businesses are seeking an exemption from the annual cap for foreign students graduating from US schools with master8217;s and doctorate degrees. Labour groups oppose the proposal. Legislation to create such an exemption, along with other changes to the H-1B and L-1 guest worker programmes, is under serious discussion in the US Senate.

Exemptions to the cap already exist for institutions of higher education, non-profit research groups and governmental research organisations. Although the cap has been reached, H-1B visas for 2005 have not necessarily been issued. USCIS, the immigration agency, has not finished processing the applications, the official said. Visas will be issued by the State Department throughout the year, he said. US employers do not have to attest that they sought US workers to fill a job before applying for an H-1B visa, but they are supposed to pay the prevailing wage to the guest worker. One-third of the approved visa applications in 2002 were for system analysts or programmers, though that figure was down from half of all approved visa petitions in 2001, according to USCIS.

In February, the government said it had received enough applications to reach the cap for the last fiscal year, which ended on Thursday. The fact that all the 2005 visas have been accounted for so quickly is not a surprise. As of August 18, USCIS had received petitions amounting to 71 per cent of the cap.