The Hindu : National : U.S. ready to accept new petitions for H-2B visas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 08, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

U.S. ready to accept new petitions for H-2B visas

Department of State received far fewer petitions than expected

Washington: With about 25,000 of the 66,000 H-2B visas still up for grabs, the U.S. on Friday announced that it would accept new petitions for the H-2B programme, popular among Indians, with immediate effect.

In a statement, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that about 25,000 of the Congressional mandated 66,000 H-2B visas were still left to be filled out for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.

Unlike the H-1B, which is more popular among Indian professionals, H-2B programme allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the country to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs for which there is a shortage of U.S. workers.

On January 7 the USCIS announced that it received enough applications to fill Congressional mandated cap of 66,000 H-2B visas. However, the Department of State received far fewer than expected requests for H-2B visas and as a result, it issued only 40,640 H-2B visa for this year.

Since there is much less time left between now and September 30, before which all these visas have to be used, the USCIS has advised prospective employees and applicants to submit their petitions in the premium processing by depositing an additional fee of $1,000. - PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National