Get in line: The rush for H-1B visas is on

With the deadline of April 2, filing for an H-1B visa is closing in experts say this year’s allotment of 65,000 slots will likely be exhausted in record time — time measured in days or weeks not months, as in years past.

And the agency that oversees the visas, the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS) has told the public that it will not accept any applications received earlier than April 2 and will reject those filed before the start date. This means people who planned on filing their petitions on Friday, March 30 with the USCIS to accept on March 31 will have their cases rejected, USCIS says.

[Blog: Let’s call Gates’ bluff on H-1Bs]

According to the USCIS, the Immigration Act of 1990 H-1B nonimmigrant visa category lets U.S. employers augment the existing labor force with highly skilled temporary workers. H-1B workers are admitted to the United States for an initial period of three years, which may be extended for an additional three years. The H-1B visa program is utilized by some U.S. employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in a specialized field. Typical H-1B occupations include architects, engineers, computer programmers, accountants, doctors and college professors. Interestingly the H-1B visa program also includes fashion models. (One has to wonder WHY?)

The H-1B program has been a loaded gun since its inception but the political intensity the issue has picked up in the past couple years.

Just this year, President Bush has called for an H-1B hike and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates recently called on the U.S. Congress to raise the cap on skilled-worker visas, saying the county’s economic future was at stake.

Gates, testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he’d prefer that “unlimited” numbers of highly skilled foreign workers be allowed into the United States, although he acknowledged that might not be politically feasible.

“We have to welcome the great minds of this world, not drive them out of this country,” Gates said, repeating his earlier calls for a higher H-1B cap. “These employees are vital to American competitiveness. We should encourage them to become permanent U.S. residents; they provide the nation economic growth, alongside America’s native-born talent.”

Technology companies have long been proponents of a higher cap, saying they would like to see the cap almost twice as high as it is now. The Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), whose backers include Apple, Dell, eBay, and Intel, last year asked that the cap be raised to 115,000.

But detractors abound. For example a recent  a U.S. government review of the program said U.S. companies aren’t really the ones reaping its potential benefits. Data for the fiscal year 2006, which ended last September, show that seven of the top 10 applicants for H-1B visas are Indian companies. Infosys and Wipro took the top two spots, with 22,600 and 19,400 applications, respectively. The company with the third most applications is Cognizant which is based in the United States but has most of its operations in India. The only U.S. companies in the top 10 are Deloitte & Touche and Accenture. They rank seventh and ninth, with 8,000 and 7,000 applications, respectively.

In this column, from a student perspective, the H-1B system is nothing but a bundle of inconveniences. The H-1B visa has a six-year time limit, putting immigrants and their families at the risk of being forced to return to their home country if their Green Card application is not approved before this 6-year deadline. H-1B holders must leave the United States if they are laid off or if the sponsoring company goes out of business. Spouses of H-1B holders need a separate sponsor in order to be able to work or to even obtain a Social Security number.

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