new H-1B numbers from USCIS

Yesterday (April 9), USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) released its updated H1B petition filings count for the 2010 fiscal year. USCIS reports that it has received approximately 42,000 H-1B petitions counting towards the 65,000 standard H-1B quota. The agency also announced that it has received approximately 20,000 petitions for holders of advanced degrees. While only 20,000 advanced degree cases are exempt from the standard cap, USCIS will nevertheless continue to accept new cases, given the likelihood that some will be rejected or denied.

USCIS also announced that the 15-day premium processing clock started running on April 7 for petitions that were received during the initial five-day filing window. For petitions received after April 7, the 15-day premium processing clock will start on the day USCIS receives the petition.

foreign worker debate . . .

The New York Times has posted an interesting (and worth reading) discussion: Do We Need Foreign Technology Workers?

For the high-tech industries, particularly, foreign-born workers on temporary H-1B visas are an important labor pool. Many of these workers arrived in the United States as students and stay on through the H-1B program. Many also go on to become permanent residents and founders of startup firms. But there is longstanding criticism among some labor groups that workers on such visas suppress engineering salaries and actually make it easier for employers to move more jobs to low-cost countries like India.

We’ve asked several experts how immigration policy affects high-skilled workers and the industries that rely on them.

aaahh, what a day . . .

The filing deadline for a new-hire employee based on an H-1B visa petition is March 31 to reach the Immigration Service (USCIS) on April 1 for a start date of October 1, 2009. That deadline was today. It was not as hectic as yesteryear, but it had its moments.

This day, with its limited promises for tomorrow, is at at an end and with some luck and perseverance it may hold a kept promise for someone.

Any notion of open borders is probably gone for good (not just the terror or the politics, but count how many of us swarm the planet) . . . there may yet be some stardust left for a lucky few.