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Rediff.com  » Business » US releases 20,000 more H1-B visas

US releases 20,000 more H1-B visas

By T V Parasuram in Washington
May 05, 2005 18:12 IST
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The United States has announced an additional 20,000 visas to foreign workers in the H1-B category, mainly availed by Indian information technology professionals, thus fulfilling a long-standing demand by American firms and academic groups.

US businesses can submit applications for additional H1-B visas beginning May 12, the Department of Home Security's immigration agency said.

An additional 20,000 such visas would be made available for foreign workers with advanced degrees from US institutions. The announcement ending months of speculation on who qualified for the visas.

The extra 20,000 visas were approved last fall by US Congress. Indians have been largest number of such foreign workers.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that the visas would be granted only to foreign workers with at least a master's-level degree from a US academic institution.

Congress approved the additional 20,000 visas last year after American technology firms and academic groups complained that the reduced 65,000-worker cap was too low to meet demand.

Opponents of the controversial visa cap, which had previously been set at 195,000, argue that the influx of skilled foreign workers is costing US citizens and permanent residents jobs.

The 65,000 H-1B visas approved by Congress for the fiscal year that began October 1, 2004 were completely taken in a day.

The release of the 20,000 additional visas comes after a delay and some controversy. Last month, USCIS roiled backers of the cap increase when it said that the 20,000 additional visas would be available to all qualified applicants -- not just those holding an advanced degree from US universities.

Sandra Boyd, who heads Compete America, a Washington-based group representing over 200 corporations and universities, said that change would be contrary to the intent of the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004. Evidently, USCIS agreed, IT weekly Computerworld notes.

In an interview to Computerworld, Boyd said the agency had made 'right interpretation' of the law with regulations that will be published in Federal Register on May 12.

She also said the agency's apparent indecision over how to handle the visa allocation created much uncertainty for US employers, as well as for prospective visa-holding employees.

"There was a lot of confusion about whether people would be offered jobs," said Boyd. "It made it impossible to plan, and it all seemed pretty unnecessary."

Tech industry groups had asked Congress last fall to approve more than 20,000 additional visas. If the visas being released next week are quickly claimed -- as some immigration attorneys have been predicting -- tech groups are likely to cite that as a reason to raise the visa cap further.

Last week, H1-B visa supporters got some help from Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates, who said preventing 'smart people' from entering the country by placing a cap on H-1B visas 'doesn't make sense.'
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T V Parasuram in Washington
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