The American Dream: H-1B Visa applications exceeds the master’s cap three times over

More than 2,30,000 professionals applied for the H-1B visa and that too within just five days of opening up the process earlier this month. US authorities have completed the computerised draw of lots, according to which visas would be allotted.

The number of applications (2,36,000) is more than thrice of what is the Congressionally-mandated cap, which halts at 65,000.

Not only this, even the number of H-1B petitions by foreign students who completed their higher studies from a US academic institute in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has crossed the 20000 limit, reported the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

All the unselected petitions will be rejected and returned with their filing fees, unless the petition is found to be duplicate.

H-1B visa, which is highly popular among Indian IT professionals, is used by tech companies to employ foreign workers in several high-skill occupations in fields like science, engineering and computer programming.

Image source