Each month we have done an H1B visa update since the April 1 opening date for applications in FY2010. However in recent months we have noted there has been very limited updates from the USCIS regarding the H1B visa mainly due the fact there are no updates to give.

The H1B annual visa quota cap of 65,000 is still yet to be filled and at last official announcement the amount of visas for this financial year (ending September 30, 2009) is still around 20,000. This shows how much demand has changed due to the economic woes as in recent times and H1B visa lottery has been required because in the opening day of applications in the past couple of years more applications have been received than there has been visas able to be issued.

To show how much the slowdown has effected the hiring of foreigners, one of the Top 5 H1B visa employers in most of the last few years, Tata Consultancy, has not even filed for a single H1B visa in FY2010. Now this may also be as much for PR reasons as it has been for cost saving in the current economy but the fact remains that there has been 0 filings in this year with none expected.

In fact as far as we have been concerned in recent months, our focus as far as the H1B visa has been concerned is helping those who have been laid off on their H1B visa as well as arguing against the original form of the proposed Anti H1B visa legislation.

So of course if any new announcements or developments in the H1B visa world are made we will of course document it here but with the Congress focus on Healthcare reform at the moment with an upcoming August recess and no impending hiring frenzy of immigrants expected, we expect our August updates for H1B visa developments to be not much more exciting!

CJ