US to accept 65,000 H-1B applications from Apr 1

Washington, Mar 10: In what could be good news for the Indians techies, United States will started accepting applications for 65,000 H-1B visas for skilled professionals for the fiscal 2011 from Apr 1.

"Cases will be considered accepted on the date that it takes possession of a properly filed petition with the correct fee; not the date that the petition is postmarked," the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced.

The Congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 does not include the petitions for the first 20,000 H-1B, which was filed on behalf of individual who have earned a Master's degree or higher in US.

The USICM said that it will randomly select the number of petitions required to achieve numerical limit from the petitions received on the final receipt date, if necessary.

Petitions for new H-1B employment are exempted from the annual cap provided the beneficiaries work at institutions of higher education or related or affiliated non-profit entities, non-profit research organizations or governmental research organizations.

H-1B programme is used by US businesses to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.

OneIndia News