Demand for US H-1B visas diminishes
by Florence Gibbs - May 11, 2011
United States, 11th May: US H-1B visas, which were once the most favored route of US immigration for many international professionals, seem to be losing sheen.
United States, 11th May: US H-1B visas, which were once the most favored route of US immigration for many international professionals, seem to be losing sheen. At least, this is how it appears to be considering the figures of April 2011.
Poor demand for US H-B visas—As per the figures revealed by the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) for the month of April 2011 show that just 8,000 applications were received for US H-1B visas.
This is quite less as compared to the figures of the previous year when the total number of US H-1B visa applications was 16,500, that is almost double than the current figures.
And it’s a far cry from the figures of April 2009 when the applications for the US H-1B visas was a whopping 45,000.
It is not long when high-tech industry was campaigning for increasing the upper limit of US H-1B visas in a bid to enable more high-skilled immigrants having IT skills and expertise to come and work in the US. The current limit of US H-1B visas is 65,000 immigrant workers to immigrate to the US for living and working here for a maximum period of six years.
Less interest in US H-1B visas baffling- The fact that there has been a sudden decline in the number of takers of the US H-1B visas has, no doubt, left many searching for reasons. The US H-1B visa program was established to attract and allow best IT professionals from various corners of the world to employ such immigrants at jobs lying unfilled due to lack of availability of domestic workforce with requisite skills.
It provides a cheap option for the US firms to hire international IT professionals for working in the US for a temporary period of not more than six years.
Reasons for low demand for US H-1B visas--Some of the reasons for the recent downslide in the US H-1B visa demand could be –
• Poor economic recovery of the US especially after the global economic downturn.
• Higher fees for the US H-1B visas.
• More options available for skilled workforce in their native nations.
• Attacks by the US lawmakers on the US H-1B program claiming it snatches jobs from Americans and also leads to poor wages in the nation.
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