H-1B US work visa quota is finally full
December 30 2009 by Liam Clifford
The US immigration authorities have announced that the year’s quota for H1-B US work visas has finally been met, in a further indication that the US economy is on
the road to recovery.
The 65,000 US work visas are made available each year for companies who
wish to hire foreigners to work in the US in jobs that cannot be filled
with US citizens. During the previous two years, the quota has been
filled in less than a week as firms race to submit their petitions to
guarantee that they can hire foreign talent.
Several reasons have been put forward to explain why the petition quota
took so long to be met this year. However, the most likely explanation
is both the recession, which has reduced the number of new jobs in the
US, together with Barack Obama’s protectionist measures introduced
early in his presidency. These measures prevented firms which received
state aid from hiring foreign workers.
The H-1B visas allow firms to hire workers with specialist skills, who
can then work in the US legally for up to six years. Hi-tech firms,
particularly those on the West Coast, often use the US work visa scheme to attract
engineering and science talent from around the globe.
See the latest Immigration News
