H1B visas have been a great choice for those who bring specialty occupation workers to the U.S. to work temporarily. Most of the large companies in the tech industry like to hire more professionals through H1b program. For instance, the U.S. companies like Intel and Microsoft want to hire more foreign professionals because they can pay them less.
The annual quota only allows for 65,000 H1B visa approvals. Of 65,000 H1B visas, 6,800 are reserved for the citizens of Chile and Singapore under free trade agreements with those countries. This annual quota has had a significant impact on the high tech industry.
As there is a great demand for
us work visa and faced with a real shortage of expertise in the American labor market, a proposal was put forwarded to raise the cap on H1B visa. This proposal, which will give more Indian professionals a chance to work in the US, received a major boost in the U.S. Congress. The Senate version in the last Congress had called for doubling the cap on H1B visas from the current level of 65,000 with additional annual increases.
