Tag Archives: h1b visa

H1B Visa September 2011 Quote Update

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As an addition update for the Fy2012 H1B visa season that commenced April 1, 2011 we have had slow growth in the overall H1B visa quota numbers throughout the year and again like FY2011, we are about to go into the following US Immigration year.

September is the last month of the US Immigration year and October 1st is the start of the new year otherwise known as FY2012. That means if you have already been approved for an H1B visa since April 1, 2011, your new visa takes effect next month. It also means that you if you are sponsored now, given how long the application process takes even with premium processing, you will be able to start working immediately which is a great selling point for foreigners to a prospective employer and sponsor as opposed to earlier in the year.

So as of September 9, 2011, which is the most recent H1B quota update the USCIS has announced. There are currently 32,200 petitions to count towards the general 65,000 H1B visa cap which only includes petitions that are approved or pending.
Anything that has already been denied is not included.

Additionally at September 9, 16,700 petitions have been received for the US Advanced Degree exemption quota portion of 20,000. It should be noted that if the advanced degree quota fills up, then those petitions go into the pool for the regular 65,000 cap.

This equates to about a 7.000 increase in the main cap since the last USCIS update on August 12 and a 2,000 increase in the Advanced Degree Exemption category. Given over half of the main cap still is remaining the opportunities still exist as they have for the past 2 years for foreigners right through the rest of 2011 to find employers and most likely it will continue into 2012

Cap Type Cap Amount Cap Eligible Petitions Date of Last Count
H-1B Regular Cap 65,000 32,200 9/9/2011
H-1B Master’s Exemption 20,000 16,700 9/9/2011

(It should be noted that the related H-1B1 visa for Chilean and Singaporean citizens are not included in this cap)

So it would seem that there is plenty of visas still available and judging by the moderate amount of applications received thus far, traditional H1B visa sponsor companies are still nowhere the levels of hiring they were in 2006-8,

Good Luck to All Who Are Searching!

Cj

H1B Visas Cause Increase in Jobs For US Workers

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One of the most common and ignorant arguments against the H1B visa program, is that it steals jobs away from local America workers, particularly at a time of 9 – 10% unemployment and in the immediate aftermath of the worst recession since the great depression.

However numerous independent studies by Vivek Wadhwa and others have shown that this is not the case and the influx of these (largely) high skilled immigrant and both filled skill shortages in the US economy. This is due to the very low amount of US students who study Engineering, Science and Technology degrees in College due to the higher degree of difficult associated with these disciplines.

The net effect to the economy has been hugely positive with companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple benefiting greatly from this high skill source of labor and their products and thus revenue benefiting the US economy as a whole.This is not even accounting for the fact that over half of all Silicon Valley start ups being founded by foreigners in recent years and the companies include the biggest and most well know brands like Google, Yahoo, eBay, Paypal, etc.

However according to the CEO of the NASDAQ Exchange, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Robert Griefeld told a US Senate hearing last week that according to the National Federation for American Policy says that for every H-1B worker requested, US technology companies increase their overall employment by five workers.

He went on to argue that “Reform must convey economic priorities about job growth and global competitiveness. Increasing H-1B visas is simply not enough. We need to admit and keep entrepreneurs here so that the creative dynamic of our economy is enhanced by the very best skills and minds,”. “Whether in Silicon Valley, Austin, Chicago, or anywhere else in the United States, I hear from CEOs that theH-1B visa system is inadequate for today’s human capital marketplace and the backlog for green cards and what they mean to the quality and the uncertainty of the lives of these foreign-born employees is a legitimate threat to their businesses.”

This is powerful language backed up by facts (rather than partisan short sighted rhetoric) coming from someone as successful and knowledgeable as Griefeld hopefully will sway enough in Congress to overhaul the current H1B Visa, L1 Visa, E3 Visa, F1 Visa OPT and Green Card process such that ultimately the US as a whole will continue to remain at the forefront of technology, new energy and the global economy.

Cj