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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Wednesday, April 02, 2014

H-1B Visas, for Skilled Workers, See Strong Demand

Wall Street Journal
By Miriam Jordan
April 1, 2014

An annual quota for coveted skilled-worker visas is expected to be met in a matter of days, meaning U.S. employers hoping to hire through the program will see the outcome determined by lottery.

U.S. firms each year can sponsor a total of 65,000 foreigners with at least a bachelor's degree for a so-called H-1B visa, many of which go to computer programmers and other specialized workers. The program allocates an additional 20,000 visas each year to foreign nationals with a master's degree or higher earned in the U.S.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that oversees the program, began taking applications Tuesday for jobs starting in October or later. It said in a statement that it anticipates receiving "more than enough petitions" to reach both caps by next Monday. "The agency is prepared to use a random selection process to meet the numerical limit," it added.

Last year, for the first time since 2008, employers reached the congressionally mandated limit less than a week after the April 1 start date. For a few years, the feeble economy left thousands of H-1B spots unfilled until later in the season. But demand has accelerated as companies have resumed hiring.

Companies apply for an H-1B with a job candidate in mind, a process that  typically involves immigration attorneys and a cost of several thousand dollars a petition. The visas are granted for three years but can be renewed for six.

Many H-1Bs are issued to offshore outsourcing companies, especially from India, that have U.S. subsidiaries. Some critics of the program say those companies send foreign workers to the U.S. to learn jobs and then move them back overseas.

U.S. companies have been lobbying for Congress to raise the number of H-1Bs available. A Senate bill to overhaul the nation's immigration system, which hasn't been taken up by the House, would eventually nearly triple the number of visas to as many as 180,000 annually.


Steve Miller, a Seattle-based attorney who specializes in employment immigration, has seen a 50% increase in filings this year from 2013. From Fortune 500 to startup companies, "our clients are hiring more," said Mr. Miller.

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com

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