Apr 8, 2008

Yesterday was the last day to submit H-1B visa applications for FY 2009 to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), ending a five-day application window that is expected to set a new record.

Even though more time was alloted for applying this year, the debate continues over the number of visas available to companies. Under current law, the annual cap allows for 65,000 H-1B visas and an additional 20,000 for students with advanced degrees from U.S. universities. Tech industry associations that favor increasing the cap have been pushing for legislation to change that limit, with two new proposals surfacing in Congress in the last several weeks.

The first, known as the Innovation Employment Act, was introduced on March 13th by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and calls for doubling the H-1B visas to 130,000 per year. The following day, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) upped the ante with a proposed a bill called the Strengthening United States Technology and Innovation Now , or SUSTAIN, Act that would triple the number of H-1Bs this year to 195,000.

While those bills make their way through Congress, UCSIS will be tasked with overseeing the application process. Which raises another contentious issue: if the current H-1B quota is exceeded as expected, UCSIS will use a lottery system to randomly determine who will receive the available visas.

Industry coalition Compete America, whose co-chair Robert Hoffman recently spoke at Tech Policy Summit, has launched an ad campaign against the lottery system --complete with an interactive "scratcher" card that sums up the group's criticism of the lottery.

One silver lining for tech companies is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's recent announcement that it will allow foreign-born graduates at American universities to extend their stay in the U.S. from 12 months to 29 months provided they have a degree in a STEM subject and they're working for an employer enrolled in the USCIS' E-Verify program. 

Tags: Compete America, Congress, H-1B, Tech Policy Summit, workforce