Race is on for US high-skilled visas

United States, 20th April: Want to get your slot assured for US H-1B visa category? Apply at the earliest.

For the annual cap for US high-skilled visas is likely to get filled up sooner seeing the current pace of applicants. The annual US H-1B visa application window for the fiscal year 2013 began on 2nd April this year.

30,300 US H-1B visa applications received--The US immigration department-USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) has already received a total of 30,300 US H-1B Visa applications (till date) for the FY (fiscal year) 2013.

And out of these 30,300 US H-1B visa applications, 20,600 applications are going to count towards 65,000 annual cap while 9,700 are towards the annual limit of 20,000 US H-1B visa applications meant for foreigners possessing advanced degrees.

From 2nd April, 2012, employers were allowed to file petitions for US H-1B visas on behalf of foreigners in Specialty Occupations for FY 2013.

In the first two days itself, the US immigration agency reported receiving 22,323 US H-1B visa petitions by 4th April, 2012. Out of 22,323 petitions for US H-1B visas received in the initial two days, nearly one-fourth were fore those possessing advanced US degrees. Till 9th April, 2012, 25,600 petitions for US H-1B visas were received by the USCIS.

Apply now for US H-1B visas-experts--Making a comparison with the figures for the last year, the number of petitions received by the US immigration agency is nearly double the petitions received during the same period in 2011. Last year, the annual limit for US H-1B visas was exhausted on 22nd November, 2011.

Moreover, the number of US H-1B visa petitions received by the US immigration agency on 19th October, 2011 from employers for foreigners possessing higher US degrees was higher than 20,000.

So, going by these figures, it becomes clear that employers wanting to file petitions for recruiting high-skilled foreign workers to come and work in the US need to act fast to avoid any disappointments later.

That’s because the annual US H-1B visa cap is likely to be reached in the short span of coming few months, feels Cyrus Mehta, an immigration attorney based in New York. Onus for an increasingly high demand for US H-1B visas must go to higher rate of startup businesses being set up in the NYC(New York City), he adds.