H-4 is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India.
This is primarily because of the current economic situation in the country, Microsoft said. "Given the economic downturn, we are filing substantially fewer H-1B applications than we filed last year," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith wrote in a blog posting on microsoftissues.com.
The United States will start accepting the applications for H-1B visas, most sought after by Indians, from April one for the fiscal 2011.
Nearly three months after the US immigration agency started accepting petitions for the H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign professionals, it is still looking for more than 20,000 applications to fill the Congressionally-mandated cap of 65,000.
Given the rate at which the USCIS has now been receiving the H-1B applications on a daily basis, officials said it would not be a surprise that they announce that the cap has been reached before the end of this year.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it has received approximately 49,000 H-1B petitions till August seven counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap, more than four months after it started accepting applications for visas for the 2010 fiscal beginning this October.
Latest figures released by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services show an increase in the number of people applying for H-1B visas in the last two months.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the measures to enforce the provisions of the new Employ American Workers Act (EAWA) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which prohibits hiring of H-1B visa holders by American companies who receive the federal aid money.
Under the current laws, anyone born in the US irrespective of the nationality of parents, automatically becomes an American citizen.
This is against the Congressionally-mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B visas for this year.
According to the latest figure update by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, approximately 46,700 of the H-1B visas in the general category were filled up by September 25; against a Congressional mandated figure of 65,000.
Once the most sought after H-1B American work visa is still having nearly 20,000 slots open seven weeks after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) started receiving applications for the financial year 2010 beginning October this year.
Primarily meant for computers and information technology professionals, the H-1B visas have been one of the most sought after for foreign professionals in previous years. The US Citizenship and Immigration Service has been receiving several times the number of the allocated quota. However, this year, the USCIS is struggling to fill up the 65,000 H-1B visas as mandated by the US Congress.
Prakash Khatri, who created history when he was appointed the first-ever Ombudsman of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security tendered his resignation, effective February 29.
The H-1B visas coveted by highly-skilled professionals mainly from India appear to be losing its sheen thanks to the economic downturn in the US when for the first time in years there were fewer takers even one week after authorities began accepting applications.
In a statement, USCIS said about 25,000 of the Congressional mandated 66,000 H2B visas are still left to be filled out for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009. On January 7, 2009 USCIS had announced to have received enough applications to fill Congressional mandated cap of 66,000 H-2B visas.
Researches reveal that many firms that employ H-1B workers directly, including some of the biggest names in the technology industry such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Qualcomm, Salesforce and Uber, pay a large share of their H-1B workers at one of the two lowest wage levels, Level 1 or Level 2.
Like last year, the agency will receive applications between April 1 and April 5. If the cap is not reached, it will continue to accept applications for five more days.
Amid speculation that there would be reduction in number of H-1B visas, which has attracted large number of Indian professionals, a top immigration expert has said that the quota of 65,000 will get capped as the filing opens on April 1.
Two influential US Senators have renewed the campaign against the biggest users of H-1B visa workers in the US, including Indian heavyweights Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and Tata Consultancy Services. They fired off a missive to these companies asking how they employed professional and skilled workers, majority of whom hail from India.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has received only half the 65,000 H1-B applications it requires to fill up the general quota category in the first five day after it began receiving applications April 1.
"Senator McCain used to buck his party on immigration by fighting for comprehensive reform. But when he was running for his party's nomination, he abandoned his courageous stance, and said that he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote," Obama told a Latino group.
From June 16, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting Premium Processing Service requests for Forms I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker) filed on behalf of the alien workers whose six-month stay allowed under H1-B visa will expire within 60 days.
"To ensure a fair and orderly distribution of available H-1B visas, USCIS will deny or revoke multiple petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker and will not refund the filing fees submitted with multiple or duplicative petitions," the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said. The USCIS has sent the interim final rule for publication in the Federal Register for it becoming effective.
Trump's verbal barbs directed at Alicia Machado, who won the Miss Universe title in 1996, started after the first presidential debate Monday when Hillary Clinton mentioned her and claimed that Trump used to call her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping."
International companies usually store data on global servers and the requirement to store data locally would require them to make an additional investment. But policymakers in India believe storing data locally would help monitor and conduct investigations if the need arises.
In the Majnu Ka Tila area in New Delhi, Children carrying tricolour burst crackers and shouted 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.
Singh, a native of India, arrived at San Francisco International Airport on September 25, 1991, without any travel documents or proof of identity.
She was among 50 persons who were presented with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services', 'The Americans By Choice Awards'.
Meanwhile, Pentagon and immigration authorities have expanded a programme that accelerates citizenship for legal residents who volunteer for the military, the report said.
An ardent backer of Brexit, Boris Johnson has a reputation for brashness, bombast, bending the truth, and really bad hair, which has earned him more than a few comparisons to United States President Donald Trump (who also happens to be a fan of his). Here are some interesting facts about BoJo, as he is called by the British media.
The United States immigration authorities have announced that 2,000 slots in the H1B visa category are still available for those holding American master's degree or advanced degrees.
The bill will attempt to toughen the H-1B visa program.
The new information required by the Department of Labour is significant because before sponsoring a foreign worker for the H-1B visa, the company needs to get its labour application approved by it.
Dr Arun Vakil, US visa expert, discusses the current shortage of H-1B visas. He tells Get Ahead readers about the various status -- pending, rejected and approved.
"Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses From the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorisation," said the US department of homeland security's unified agenda in the federal register notification of its semi-annual regulatory agenda.
This provides for H-1B extensions beyond the 6-year limit.
This is the first time that the cap is reached on the first day of receiving the applications on April 2.
With Democrats having an upper hand in US Congress, the Donald Trump administration will find it difficult to come up with any future legislative changes with regard to visa regulations.
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