Faced with yet another massive annual rush for H-1B work visas, used predominantly by tech firms to bring skilled professionals from India, the US authorities are gearing up for a computer-aided random selection to award 85,000 visas for American fiscal 2017 that begins on October 1, 2016.
This time, the visa cap has been reached within five business days since the US Citizenship and Immigration Services started accepting applications on April 1.
last year, the USCIS had received 233,000 H-1B petitions, which meant that the agency on an average approved just one out of every three petition.
The precise number of petitions received this year is still to be notified, but the expectation is that it could be even more than that of last year. Of the total 85,000 visas, 20,000 are reserved for applicants who have an advanced degree (master’s or above) from an American university.
Indian IT firms with major US operations, notably TCS, Infosys and Wipro, have been among the principal users of the H-1B visas over the years, with the result that the lion’s share of these visas have gone to Indian software professionals.
The H-1B rush has continued regardless of the furious debate raging in the US this election cycle on immigration, inclusive of the flow of skilled manpower, with the Republicans, notably front-runner Donald Trump, taking extreme positions on this subject.
But the US tech industry continues to root for the H-1B visa programme and has for years been campaigning for its expansion in a big way to enable America retain its competitive edge.
The USCIS said that because of the high number of petitions it has received, it is not in a position to announce right away the date when it will begin its computer-aided random selection process.
In a statement, USCIS said it will first randomly select petitions for grant of visas to 20,000 in the advanced degree exemption category, and then take up the selection in the general category of 65,000 visas.
“The agency will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not duplicate filings,” it said.