USCIS Reaches 2009 H-1B Visa Cap

Date: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 4:49 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2001 -- 4/07/2009 >>>>>

The USCIS announced that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the
allotment of visas for 2009. Out of the 163,000 petitions that were received
the first five days of filing, 65,000 will be chosen by lottery to be issued
visas. In addition another 20,000 will be accepted under the "advanced degree"
exemption limit which brings the total up to 85,000.

Today the USCIS will conduct an H-1B visa lottery to determine who the lucky
winners are that get visas from the huge pile of petitions.

Numbers for other exemptions to the cap were not announced. Last year that
total combined with the cap was about 122,000 visas.

Meanwhile, during the first three months of 2009 the high-tech sector in the
U.S. suffered its deepest layoffs in seven years, according to a firm that
tracks the jobs market.

REFERENCES:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c5b6628090e29110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6
8439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
Or use this shorter link:
http://tiny.cc/2009H1BCap
USCIS Reaches FY 2009 H-1B Cap

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=183f301458e49110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6
8439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
(Sorry folks, but I'm not going to do a short link everytime!) USCIS Runs
Random Selection Process For H-1B Petitions

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/040808-h-1b-cap-reached.html
H-1B cap for 2009 reached, lottery to commence

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/high-tech-layoffs-climb-first-quarter/story.aspx?guid=%7B33AFAB9C%2D0276%2D4883%2D8F8B%2DE5F5009BA0B4%7D&dist
=msr_3
High-tech layoffs climb in first quarter

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http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c5b6628090e29110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6
8439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Or use this shorter link:

http://tiny.cc/2009H1BCap

USCIS Reaches FY 2009 H-1B Cap

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced
today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally
mandated cap for fiscal year 2009. USCIS has also received more than 20,000
H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the
cap under the "advanced degree" exemption. Before running the random
selection process, USCIS will complete initial data entry for all filings
received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. 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.

USCIS will carry out the computer-generated random selection process for all
cap-subject petitions received. USCIS will select the number of petitions
needed to meet the caps of 65,000 for the general category and 20,000 under
the "advanced degree" exemption limit. USCIS will reject, and return filing
fees for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected,
unless found to be a duplicate. USCIS will handle duplicate filings in
accordance with the interim final rule published on March 24, 2008 in the
Federal Register.

The agency will conduct the selection process for "advanced degree"
exemption petitions first. All "advanced degree" petitions not selected
will be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.

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http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=183f301458e49110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6
8439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

(Sorry folks, but I'm not going to do a short link everytime!)

USCIS Runs Random Selection Process For H-1B Petitions

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today
conducted the computer-generated random selection processes on H-1B petitions,
to select which H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2009 (FY 2009) would continue
to full adjudication. If approved these H-1B petitions will be eligible to
receive an H-1B visa number.

USCIS conducted two random selections, first on petitions qualifying for the
20,000 "master s or higher degree" (advanced degree) exemption, and second on
the remaining advance degree petitions together with the general H-1B pool of
petitions, for the 65,000 cap.

The approximately 163,000 petitions received on the first five days of the
eligible filing period for FY 2009 (April 1 through April 7, 2008) were
labeled with unique numerical identifiers. USCIS has notified the appropriate
service centers which numerical identifiers have been randomly selected, so
each center may continue with final processing of the petitions associated
with those numerical identifiers.

Petitioners whose properly filed petitions have been selected for full
adjudication should receive a receipt notice dated no later than June 2, 2008.
USCIS will return unselected petitions with the fee(s) to petitioners or their
authorized representatives. As previously announced, duplicate filings will
be returned without the fee. The total adjudication process is expected to
take approximately eight to ten weeks.

For cases selected through the random selection process and initially filed
for premium processing, the 15-day premium processing period begins today
(April 14), the day of the random selection process.

USCIS has "wait-listed" some H-1B petitions, meaning they may possibly replace
petitions chosen to receive an FY-2009 cap number, but that subsequently are
denied, withdrawn, or otherwise found ineligible. USCIS will retain these
petitions until a decision is made whether they will replace a previously
selected petition. USCIS will send a letter to the wait list petitioners to
inform them of their status

USCIS expects that for each of these wait-listed petitions, it will either
issue a receipt notice or return the petition with fees within six to eight
weeks.

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http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/040808-h-1b-cap-reached.html

H-1B cap for 2009 reached, lottery to commence USCIS received enough H-1B
petitions to conduct random lottery for 65,000 slots and 20,000 additional
master's degree applicants By Denise Dubie , Network World , 04/08/2008
Sponsored by:
Sponsor employers and individuals who applied for one of 65,000 H-1B visas for
2009 must wait to learn if their petition will be selected during a random
lottery process set to begin now that the filing cap has been reached.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Tuesday that
it had received by April 7, 2008 enough petitions for the 65,000 H-1B visas
available for fiscal year 2009 to meet the "congressionally mandated cap." The
government agency, which extended the acceptance period to five business days
to improve the fairness of the process, also announced it had received enough
applications for the 20,000 H-1B visas allocated for the "advanced degree"
exemption limit to meet the mandated cap.

The applications received will now be subject to a random lottery process for
selection to determine which individuals can start working at their sponsor
companies Oct. 1, 2008. Before running the random selection process, USCIS
will complete initial data entry for all filings received during the filing
period ending on April 7, 2008. USCIS says it will first conduct the advanced
degree random selection and that "advanced degree petitions not selected will
be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit."

Industry groups that support revising the H-1B program say this year's process
mirrored last year's, in which the USCIS received more than 123,000
applications in less than two days.

Related Content
The shortage of applications proves the program needs to be updated to better
meet U.S. workforce needs, according to Compete America.

"U.S. employers deserve better than a random lottery to determine if they can
hire highly educated candidates they need," said Robert Hoffman, vice
president for government and public affairs at Oracle and co-chair of Compete
America, in a written statement in response to the cap being reached this
week.

According to the industry group, this year is the first in which the cap for
both the general and advanced degree H-1B visas were reached during the filing
period and the second year that the overall cap has been reached in the same
time. The low cap sends talented workers, educated in the United States, to
find employment elsewhere, Hoffman said.

"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," he said.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/high-tech-layoffs-climb-first-quarter/story.aspx?guid=%7B33AFAB9C%2D0276%2D4883%2D8F8B%2DE5F5009BA0B4%7D&dist
=msr_3

High-tech layoffs climb in first quarter

By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
Last update: 11:40 a.m. EDT April 6, 2009WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - During the
first three months of 2009 the high-tech sector in the U.S. suffered its
deepest layoffs in seven years, according to a firm that tracks the jobs
market.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. on Monday said high-tech companies announced
job cuts totaling 84,217 in the first quarter - the steepest reduction since
133,511 layoffs were disclosed in last three months of 2002.
The latest decline follows 66,312 reported layoffs in the 2008 fourth quarter,
according to Challenger Gray. Job cuts have risen five straight quarters, the
firm said.
Challenger Gray's numbers do not take new hires into account. A trade group
that represents high-tech firms, TechAmerica, pegged net job cuts in the
fourth quarter at a lower 38,000 once new hires are factored in.
TechAmerica based calculations in its most recent report issued last week on
data collected by the federal government.
Although the ongoing economic downturn has clearly taken a toll, many tech
executives and analysts say the 2001 recession was far worse for their
industry.
The 2001 recession was triggered by the end of an Internet-fueled boom, which
hit the technology and telecommunications sectors hardest and lingered for
several years after the rest of the economy recovered.
In 2001 and 2002, for example, Challenger Gray said layoff announcements
totaled 1.16 million, or an average of 145,467 per quarter.
The firm said layoffs are likely to continue to accelerate in the high-tech
sector, especially if more companies are sold in a period of severe economic
stress.
"In most of these mergers, the first step taken to offset the cost of the
merger is to eliminate redundant positions," noted John Challenger, chief
executive of the outplacement firm.
Still, some parts of the high-tech sector, which includes computer,
electronics and telecom companies, are actually adding jobs.
TechAmerica said last week that sales of software and related services have
boosted employment in that segment of the industry. As a result, the tech
sector actually added a net 77,000 jobs in 2008, the trade group calculated.
The group was unwilling to predict a net gain in 2009, however, given the
current state of the economy.
"New hiring is certainly on hold," David Thomas, TechAmerica's representative
in Silicon Valley, said last week.
Jeffry Bartash is a reporter for MarketWatch in Washington.

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