Eric Thomas or Frances Cox 202/822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 8, 2008

Cap on H-1B Visas Again Hit Immediately

Congressional Inaction Results in Another Lottery for Highly Skilled Candidates

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced that the FY 2009 allotment of visas for highly educated foreign-born professionals was exceeded by applications received during the filing period that began on Tuesday, April 1, 2008.  H-1B visa “winners” will once again be determined by random lottery.

“U.S. employers deserve better than a random lottery to determine if they can hire the highly educated candidates they need,” said Robert Hoffman, Vice President for Government and Public Affairs at Oracle and Co-Chair of Compete America.  “Congress has failed to address the problem as U.S. universities graduate highly educated individuals who leave to work in competitor nations.  This madness must end this year.”

The announcement by USCIS marks the first year that both the 65,000 overall cap and 20,000 cap exemption were reached during the filing period.  This is the second year in a row that the overall cap has been reached during the filing period, and the fifth consecutive year that the cap has been reached on or before the beginning of the new fiscal year.  Last year the 20,000 cap exemption was reached weeks after the filing period. Compounding the problem are the massive, multi-year backlogs in the employment-based green card system, which prevent U.S. employers from retaining many key employees as permanent workers once their temporary status expires.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security issued an interim final rule to extend the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program for certain foreign-born students graduating from U.S. universities from 12 to 29 months.  The 17-month extension should allow U.S. employers to hire spring graduates in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) and keep them in America until their H-1B visas becomes effective, provided that these students are fortunate enough to win the H-1B lottery.

“Despite the proven contributions of highly educated workers to America and the well-documented demand for the H-1B visas and employment-based green cards that bring and keep them here, artificially low caps shut out some of the world’s brightest talent,” stated Hoffman.  “We urge Congress enact permanent reforms of the employment-based visa system this year.”

To view H-1B lottery ticket options facing highly skilled professionals and for more information on how highly skilled immigration benefits America, please visit www.competeamerica.org. 

Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of corporations, educators, research institutions and trade associations concerned about legal, employment-based immigration and committed to ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce necessary to ensure continued innovation, job creation and leadership in a worldwide economy.

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