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H-1B visa applications exceed quota

Washington: U.S. Immigration authorities have received enough applications for the H-1B visas coveted by Indian high-tech professionals surpassing the 65,000 annual quota within a week and a random lottery will pick the successful aspirants.

Announcing that the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal year 2009 had been met, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not reveal the number of applications received but said it would “carry out the computer-generated random selection process” at a date to be determined.

“Before running the random selection process, USCIS will complete initial data entry for all filings received during the filing period ending on April 7. Due to the high number of petitions, USCIS is not yet able to announce the precise day on which it will conduct the random selection process,” a statement from the agency said.

The random process will determine the 65,000 winners who could start working at their sponsor companies from October 1, 2008. — PTI

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