H-1B Visa Quota Predictions For FY 2010

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The H-1B visa is a non immigrant visa classification used by professional foreign nationals who will be employed temporarily by a U.S. employer in either a specialty occupation or as a fashion model. A foreign national can be in H1B status for a maximum period of six years at a time, generally granted in two increments of three years.

Current law limits the number of H1Bs to 65,000 foreign nationals each year. The first 20,000 H1B visas are issued to foreign nationals who obtained their Masters Degree here in the U.S. because they are exempt from the 65,000 cap; H1B visas issued to advanced degree foreign nationals beyond the first 20,000 are then counted against the overall 65,000 cap. Some U.S. Senators have proposed increasing the cap, but legislation has not yet been passed by Congress.

H1B visa renewals and H1B visa extensions of stay do not count towards the annual limits. H1B nonimmigrants who work at (but not necessarily for) universities and non-profit research facilities are also excluded from the numerical cap. Transfers of H1B visas among U.S. employers only count against the cap when the foreign national is changing jobs from a U.S. employer that is exempt from the limits (academia or research) to one that is not exempt (for-profit).

The first day of filing for H-1B visas for FY 2010 is April 1, 2009. If the foreign national is already in the U.S., they must stay in lawful non immigrant status until October 1, 2009 when the H1B visa becomes effective. Although a review of past years (FY2004-FY2009) shows a rapid depletion of the H1B quota every year, FY2008 and FY2009 (i.e., last two fiscal years) have seen the entire 65,000 H1B visa quota met on the very first day of filing. The annual cap for FY 2008 was exceeded on the first day of filing. A random lottery was held, consisting of cases filed on the first two days, as required by regulation. The separate H1B visa exemption quota of 20,000 for U.S. advanced-degree holders lasted only about one month after they first became available for FY2008.

In response to that situation, the procedures changed for FY 2009, as the government decided that there would be a lottery of the cases filed on the first five days of filing, if the cap was reached during any of those five days. The cap was again met on the first day. FY 2009 also saw the entire 20,000 U.S. advanced-degree H1B quota exemptions exhausted in one day.

The government announced that they received about 163,000 H1B visa applications last year, and approximately 31,200 of those were for the Masters Degree category. Advanced degree holders have a better chance of being selected in the H1B lottery than individuals who are seeking a regular H1B visa because the government first holds the lottery for the 20,000 advanced degree visas; applications that are not drawn as part of that selection process are then added to the pool of applications for the 65,000 regular H1B visas, giving the first-time losers a second shot at getting an H1B visa.

Based on what happened in the past, the 20,000 U.S. advanced-degree H1B quota exemptions may also be gone on the very first day of filing for FY2010. In addition, those who did not receive an H1B approval in the last two years will re-apply, adding pressure to the competition to obtain an H1B approval under the pending quota. It is clear from the past two years is that it is highly recommended to file cap-subject H1B cases on April 1st, 2009 in order to best compete for an H1B visa.


Guest Post Author

Danielle Homant Nelisse

H1B Visa Fraud – What Immigrants Should Look Out For

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Because of the current economic situation, legal immigrants have now become the target for a lot of anger from politicians to the average citizen nad are being targeted in many ways.

The Seattle Times and many other news organization have being reporting on the H1B visa fraud that has been rife whereby companies mainly in the IT sector have been illegally employing immigrants under the terms of the H1B visa.

Without going into to many details, simply put, the rules of this visa state you must be;
– gainfully employed by your approved employer
– working only on approved job sites for extended periods
– paid the prevailing wage for your profession and location
– be a full employee and some sort of contractor or consultant paid for specific projects
– be treated as any other employee under all relevant labor laws

Essentially these firms that have been engaging in this visa fraud for years, have been violating many and sometimes all of the  above requirements.

One of the most common is “benching” employees and treating them as contractors and only paying them when they are on a specific project. Then often taking a portion of the salary as some sort of agency fee and threatening deportation and bad conditions to employees who dare to complain.

A trick they often engage in is to force employees to sign documents to say they have ill for long periods and unable to work to legally get around the fact they have to continue to pay them the salary stated in the initial visa petition.

Now in some cases also, applicants and immigrant employees have also being engaging in fraud by forging credentials, degrees, etc. but usually that is in full cooperation with a company who is well aware this is the case as ultimately a company should always know whom they are employing and what their background is.

Like with Ellis Island 100-150 years ago and following World War 1 and World War 2, waves of immigrants do want to begin a new life in the US and give the best to their families. However today it is much of corporate America that is screwing these International workers and at the same time their American counterparts by becoming involved in this conduct.

US workers are angry that they are losing jobs to immigrant workers and are angry that they are being laid off while immigrants are retaining their jobs. You can understand this type of anger and definitely sympathize with it.

However when elements of the media and especially members of all levels of government engage in spreading falsehoods and a “blame the immigrant” mentality to cover up their own crappy performance and policies, that is when you get mad!

This sort of public spin has of course gone on for hundreds of years towards the Irish, the Greeks and Italians, the Hispanics and now the educated Asians but in the end it is all these groups of people and numerous other groups that make the USA what it is.

A company like Google would not exist if it wasn’t for this same immigrant story and think how many Americans it employs all across the country let alone the immigrants which intern has create a whole industry which further employs people and so the cycle continues.

I came across a site called Immigrant Voice which is another site along with this one trying to help people on H-1B visas and all the others like E-3, L-1, F-1, J-1, etc. fight their battles in an already tough environment.

So please share you story here so we can all learn..

CJ