The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service announced on June 1 that the 65,000 H-1B visa supply has been exhausted for the 2007 fiscal year, four months before new ones will be made available.
The H-1B, launched in 1990, is a temporary work visa issued to skilled foreign nationals allowing them to work in the United States for up to six years. The program has garnered controversy because of its effect on the IT professional work force.
“This is unprecedented. It marks the second year in a row that the H-1B cap has been prematurely reached,” said Deborah J. Notkin, president of the AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) in a statement.
The H-1B visas reached their 2006 fiscal year limit in August 2005, nearly two months before the 2006 fiscal year began. The 2007 fiscal year H-1B visas will not be available until October 1, 2006.
News of the visa supply being extinguished comes on the heels of the U.S. Senate passing the immigration reform bill on May 25, which included a provision to raise the H-1B visa cap to 115,000 from 65,000.
Read the full story on eWEEK.com: H-1B Supply Tapped Out in Record Time
