Demand Down for U.S. Visas for Skilled Workers: Applications indicate fewer firms have plans to hire or need to look overseas

Boston Globe: The nation’s labor market may be on the rebound, but demand for the special visas that allow companies to bring skilled workers to the United States is much weaker than last year. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said last week that it has received about 13,500 requests for its standard H-1B visas since it began accepting applications on April 1. That’s far fewer than the 42,000 requests filed during the same period last year, during the worst of the recession. The agency sets an annual quota of 65,000 of the H-1B visas.