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 (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.
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.
This is against the Congressionally-mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B visas for this year.
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.
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.
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.
Subir Chowdhury, chairman and CEO of ASI Consulting Group, LLC, has been named for the 'Outstanding American by Choice Award' by the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) in recognition of his work and contributions to the US.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A new law and a new study refuel the H-1B debate.
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 Premium Processing Service provides faster processing of certain employment-based petitions and guarantees a 15-calendar day processing time. Early this month, the USCIS said it needs additional time to assess whether it is possible to provide this level of service for nonimmigrant religious worker petitions. Due to the complexities with adjudicating R-1 visa petitions, USCIS cannot reasonably ensure a level of processing service within 15 calendar days, it said.
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.
H-4 is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H-1B visa petitions for the fiscal year 2010 from Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Read on to find out all you wanted to know about H-1B visas.
More than 60 individuals and entities, an overwhelming number of them Indians, were on Thursday charged by the Justice Department for allegedly participating in a multi-million dollar scam involving call centres based in India which conned thousands of American citizens.
The US has announced that the cap on employment-based immigrant visas for 2007 has been reached and no new applications will be entertained till October.
She was among 50 persons who were presented with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services', 'The Americans By Choice Awards'.
In a welcome development for Indians seeking to work in the US, the Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced the extension of filing time for 'O' and the 'P' non-immigrant visas
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.
Senators Grassley and Durbin release more data showing that Tata, Infosys, and others are using U.S. work visas to their advantage
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.
The move will have a major impact on Indian women as they are the major beneficiary of the Obama-era rule.
It has been the preferred visa for Indian IT companies and has helped them keep costs down and gain a margin advantage over multinational players by sending engineers to the US.
Singh, a native of India, arrived at San Francisco International Airport on September 25, 1991, without any travel documents or proof of identity.
New Zealand Immigration Service, the authorised body for issuing visas for New Zealand, on Thursday opened visa collection centres in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi.
This is the first time that the cap is reached on the first day of receiving the applications on April 2.
If you are applying for United States citizenship or planning to apply for any other immigration benefits, be ready to pay more from October 26.\n\n
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.
Americans can adopt children orphaned by the December 26 quake and tsunamis in South Asia only when their countries of origin make them available for adoption, the US government has said.
The rush for these visas before the limit runs out is apparent from the fact that while 3,302 such visas were available on November 29, 2005 only 1,364 visas remain on offer at present.
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