Visa Cap Hit Before Start of Year
Electronic News reports: Visa Cap Hit Before Start of Year
The fiscal year doesn’t even begin until October 1, but the government has already reached the limit on high-tech worker visas for 2007, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Thursday, leading many tech groups to call once again for reform.
Regardless of one’s perspective on the employment data, the supply of high-tech workers such as software engineers is relatively low. The H1-b visa program allows a limited number of foreign workers to work in the US. This particularly affects the Indian offshoring firms like Cognizant (CTSH), who need on-site people in the US who are able to communicate with the offshore programmers in India. For the most part, they use Indian nationals.
These firms have other options. Besides the H1-b program there are other types of visas that can be awarded, and the firms could also hire locals for a good number of positions. The need to submit the visa applications far in advance keeps the companies on their toes, but they are well aware of the issue and few consider it to be a serious investment concern anymore.
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