No new H1-B visas till Oct

US SHUTTING WINDOWS

Professionals seeking H-1B visas to work in the US will now have to wait till October following the US government's decision not to accept any more applications for the programme this fiscal year.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) yesterday announced that it had received enough petitions for H-1B visas, which allow US companies to bring skilled foreign labour into the country, to meet the US Congress-mandated cap of 65,000 new workers for this fiscal year.

No new applications will be accepted till April 1 and no additional visas will be issued till October 1, when the next fiscal year begins.

Petitions of workers currently in the US on H-1B visas, however, do not count towards the mandated cap.

Accordingly, the USCIS will continue to process petitions to extend the time a current H-1B visa holder may remain in the US, to change the terms of his employment, to allow current workers to change employers and to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

The USCIS also noted that petitions for new H-1B employment would not be subject to the annual cap if the worker was employed at an institution of higher education or a related or affiliated non-profit entity, or at a non-profit or a government research organisation.

While terming the move as being against the spirit of free trade, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) today said the decision would not have any impact on the

Indian infotech industry in the immediate future. However, if it was extended beyond October, there could be some problems, it added. Leading Indian infotech companies have enough workers with H1-B visas to sustain them over the next few months.

"We hope the artificial restriction of 65,000 is lifted from October 2004, when the current financial year comes to an end," Nasscom President Kiran Karnik said.

The H1-B visa programme is controversial. Critics say it allows businesses to fill jobs with cheap foreign labour rather than hiring Americans at higher wages.

The high-tech industry and other businesses that use the programme to fill jobs say they cannot find enough qualified Americans to do the kind of work they need.

In response to the high-tech boom and the outcry from businesses about worker shortages, the US Congress had temporarily raised the number of H-1B visas available from 65,000 to 195,000 in 2000. But the cap went back to 65,000 on September 30, 2003.

Several US industry groups and businesses had urged the Congress last year to keep the 195,000 limit in place. But with a slumping economy and the high-tech boom largely over, the Congress refused.