Many H1B Visas available
By Sameer

Before the recession hit America, its 65,000 H-1B work Visas were oversubscribed within days of applications being lodged on the official acceptance day of April 1.  Indian tech companies were the largest users of this visa.

The recession and anti outsourcing lobbying by American techies resulted in it becoming harder for Indian tech companies to get an H-1B Visa. The US Government also cracked down on widespread H1B Visa fraud.  And then in the second week of August, 2010, President Obama signed into law a Bill which would be partly financed by increasing the H-1B fee by $2,000 for many applicants.

The USCIS has 65,000 H-1B Visas and another 20,000 such visas for those who have done a Masters degree in USA.  The USCIS statistics till Aug 20 show that at least 31 thousand H1B Visas are still available.