H-1B Visas Continue to be Available Despite Economic Slump
The Wall Street Journal on October 30th reported that despite the current economic downtrend, H-1B visas continue to be available.
Since 1990, when the H-1B program was implemented, companies of all sizes from Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and everyone else in between, have used this program to bring highly skilled foreign workers such as computer programmers from India or engineers from China to the U.S. for the purpose of being more competitive globally.
When the economy began to worsen last year, employers have filed these H-1B visa petitions and as a result, the annual quota of 65,000 visas was reached in only one day. However, this year as of October 25th, nearly seven months after the application period began on April 1st, approximately 52,800 petitions have been filed.
Currently, the unemployment in the U.S. stands at about 10% which has resulted in a stand-still in the technology sector traditionally, the biggest user of the H-1B program.
Julie Pearl, a corporate immigration lawyer in San Francisco commented that,
“Most companies just aren’t hiring as many people in general.”
Additionally, political pressures have also contributed to employers not filing as many H-1B visa applications. For example, companies that received federal bailout funds commonly known as TARP funding are held to a higher standard in having to prove that they have tried to recruit qualified American workers at the prevailing wages and, most importantly, that foreign nationals are not replacing qualified U.S. workers.
Overall, H-1B visas continue to be available and depending on the economic conditions, we will see if visas will be available before next year’s application period starts.
Related posts:
H-1B Visas Continue to be Available
Update on Fiscal Year 2010 H-1B Petition Filings
