Source:
Boston GlobeAmerican high-tech companies are hiring again, but it appears that fewer of them are looking overseas for new workers. There was a big drop in demand in 2010 for the controversial H-1B visas, long used by US technology companies to import highly skilled temporary workers, immigration officials said. Every April, the US government makes available 65,000 standard H-1B visas, and they have been quickly snapped up in past years by US companies looking to import workers. In 2008, the quota was filled in one week. Even in 2009, despite the severe recession, the quota was filled in December, nine months after the visa window opened.
But as of two weeks ago, officials reported that 11,100 visas, nearly one-fifth of the total, were still available.
... The low demand comes as evidence builds that technology companies are expanding their payrolls. The economic research firm Moody’s Analytics says that employment at US high-tech companies increased by 47,000 jobs between January and November. By contrast, the sector lost 46,000 jobs in 2008, and 196,000 in 2009.
... In September 2008, the federal agency reported that 21 percent of H-1B visas they examined had been granted on the basis of applications that contained fraudulent or inaccurate information. Since then, said Hira, the agency has begun a crackdown that features visits to job sites where visa holders are employed.
Read more:
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2011/01/01/demand_lagging_among_tech_firms_for_h1_b_visas/
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
