Date:03/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/03/stories/2006060304300900.htm

Back US receives sufficient H-1B applications to meet FY'07 cap

Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee

"Even if the cap remains at the level it is currently in, India would gain as the outsourcing to the country may increase, given visa crunch in the US.'' Close to 50 pc issued to India are taken by the top five IT cos

New Delhi , June 2

Dealing a severe blow to H-1B aspirants who were planning to apply for the hi-tech visas in the coming days, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it has received sufficient number of H-1B applications to meet the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal 2007, which begins on October 1, 2006.

"The fact that the H-1B visas have already run out demonstrates the tremendous need for skilled talent in the US. It is imperative for the US to continue to attract high-tech talent from across the globe, in order to sustain its technological lead," Mr Sunil Mehta, Vice-President of software association Nasscom told Business Line.

Mr Mehta said the rush of applications also underscored the immediate need to ally the H-1B visa issuance with the market requirements.

Adding more weight

Industry observers estimate that close to 50 per cent of the visas issued to India are taken by the top five IT companies and in absolute numbers this figure could stand at about 12,000.

According to Dr Arun C. Vakil, a US Visa and Immigration consultant from Mumbai, the existing situation may add more weight to the IT industry's long-standing demand to increase the H-1B visa ceiling. "There may be a pressure to marginally increase the ceiling during the conference committee meeting of the Senate and the House on the issue of immigration legislation. Even if the cap remains at the level it is currently in, India would gain as the outsourcing to the country may increase, given visa crunch in the US," Dr Vakil said.

The USCIS has said that the `final receipt date' for H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2007 annual cap was May 26, 2006. Affected H-1B petitions received on that date would be subject to a computer-generated random selection process, while those received by USCIS after the `final receipt date' would be rejected.

Fiscal year limitation

The US Congress has established an annual fiscal year limitation of 65,000 on the number of available H-1B visas. Under the terms of the legislation implementing the United States-Chile and United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreements, 6,800 of the 65,000 available H-1B visas are annually set aside for the Chile/Singapore H-1B1 programme. As a result of reserving 6,800 H-1B1 visas for FY 2007, the H-1B cap for that fiscal year was 58,200. However, USCIS added back to the H-1B cap 6,100 unused FY 2006 H-1B1 visas, for a total of 64,300.

Case for reform

The US high-tech industry, which has been pitching for increase in the annual H-1B cap, is citing the USCIS announcement as evidence that the visa programme needs to be reformed. "While we need to do more as a nation to encourage American students to pursue degrees in the fields of maths, science, engineering and technology, we must also be able to attract top talent from across the globe. The future competitiveness of our nation depends on it," said Ms Sandy Boyd, National Association of Manufacturers Human Resources Policy Vice-President and Compete America Chair.