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One of my friends had an unlucky break. He was sitting pretty with a great job offer from one of the top consulting companies waiting for the new H1-B quota of 20,000 visas to open up. This new quota is specially reserved for those who complete advanced degrees i.e. Masters and PhD in the US. Unfortunately, the cap didn’t open for application on the date announced and the company rescinded their offer. The next week, the new quota was announced. The poor guy could only curse his luck.
I had expected the new quota to be snapped up immediately. In previous cases, the quota for H1-B visas (lifeline for Desis in the US) used to get filled up on the first day it was opened up. The reduction of visas from almost 195,000 during the Clinton years to 65,000 after 9/11 hit all foreign workers, mostly Indians pretty hard. The visas were snapped up double quick now. So naturally, I expected the new quota to follow the same path. But surprisingly that didn’t happen. As of June 29, only 8,069 visas had been claimed. I guess they aren’t many takers for visas specifically for those who study in America. Or does it mean that the demand for an American job has waned? Also, it could mean that thanks to the outsourcing wave, American employers are now limiting their US hiring overall or giving the jobs to American workers (highly unlikely in otherwise technical fields dominated by foreigners). Bill Gates wants unlimited H1-B visas but his case will not be helped if the existing quota is not filled.
If your colleagues are cribbing about non-availability of visas, inform them that there enough of them around. Of course, like before “the H-1B program still provides exemptions to the annual cap for institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations and governmental research organizations.” Why do I know that the ‘good’ tech workers are back in Bangalore or Hyderabad instead of begging for a visa in the US? Is this the sign of the times?
by Patrix | on Thursday, July 14th, 2005 at 2:00 am | 
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July 14th, 2005 at 9:09 am reply
I remember some time back a friend facing a similar situation. He landed a better job here in Bangalore and is now thankful the visa didn’t come through. Maybe like you said, a sign of changing times…
July 14th, 2005 at 10:20 am reply
HI Patrix
Its wierd becuase many big companies..(non tech I guess, but equally skilled jobs) refuse to hire foreign students just because of the hassle of the H1-B..maybe that is a factor too..
July 14th, 2005 at 3:26 pm reply
One important provision of H1B visa is that person should be hired with the prevailing market wage. Now, why would US companies prefer that over offshoring?
July 14th, 2005 at 4:40 pm reply
Ramana, I have enough cases of people moving back to India to believe that the trend is indeed real.
Sqrl, no one knows that reason better than I do.
Ashish, I agree! Indians are taking over Indian jobs in America; Americans have no reason to be pissed :)
July 16th, 2005 at 1:12 pm reply
I feel the main reason the H1-Bs under this 20000 quota have not been snapped up..is because its a fact that people with Master’s degrees from universities here formed only a fraction of the total number of H1-B’s issued. Most of the visas are snapped up by our bigwigs like Infosys, Wipro etc. So you will still see the 65000 visas getting exhausted at a rapidfire rate…but the 20000 will just be taken by the relatively smaller number of international MS students graduating from american universities every year.