H1B停收件 擇日抽籤

美國公民與移民服務局（USCIS）7日表示，該局在當天下午5時停止接受2009年度H1B簽證的遞件服務，今年自4月1日開始收件以來，連續五個工作日收到超過名額限度的申請件數，移民當局將在本周統計收件數目，並根據情況宣布抽籤日期。

USCIS發言人克麗絲•洛提根（Chris Rhatigan）表示，申請件數遠超過用來抽籤的6萬5000個簽證，移民局會儘快宣布具體事宜。

' `: @1 N% L. rH1B簽證今年的申請比以往更熱烈，名額顯得更緊缺。外界估計，4月1日開始收件的當天，移民局就收到十多萬個申請。路透報導指出，到4月2日，估計寄到移民局的申請已近20萬件。
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另據美國移民律師協會表示，該協會2日與移民局開會時得知，移民局各服務中心接到的申請信堆積如山，估計當時接到的申請件已經在25萬至40萬之間，是去年接獲總申請數的二至三倍。 移民律師協會估計移民局在4月20日起為申請人發送收件收據。

USCIS對外界的猜測未加評論，不過該局指出，如果今年申請H1B簽證者，在東西兩岸受理中心之間選錯地址者，移民局不會因此而拒絕受理。
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! K, y! U- f5 ~; c( ]% _2 y按規定，加州和佛蒙特州移民服務中心分別受理全美不同地區的H1B簽證申請。加州服務中心還專職受理不受6萬5000個名額限制的H1B申請案。
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不過，有些申請人在加州和佛蒙特服務中心間選錯遞件地址，移民局表示，他們參加抽籤的機會不會因此受影響。不過，如果H1B申請遞交到德州和內布拉斯加州服務中心，申請人將失去抽籤資格。
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看來碩士也要抽籤
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http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144286/us_reaches_2009_h1b_visa_cap.html

US Reaches 2009 H-1B Visa Cap
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1 recommend

Grant Gross, IDG News Service
* ~& u) F1 ~7 n1 w- a- EU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reached the cap on H-1B immigrant worker visas for the 2009 fiscal year, just a week after the agency opened the application period.
5 J, b% u* Y. |USCIS announced Tuesday that it reached the H-1B cap for the government's 2009 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The agency received 65,000 applications for the regular H-1B program, meeting the cap, and it received more than 20,000 applications from foreign students receiving advanced degrees in the U.S. In addition to the regular H-1B visas, the government issues an additional 20,000 visas to students with advanced degrees.
( Z! F( q; A1 ]  l. ]! }/ [Several large tech companies, including Microsoft, have called for an increase in the H-1B cap because it has been filled within days of applications opening up in recent years. The H-1B program is designed to help U.S. companies find workers for hard-to-fill positions, but critics have said the program is widely abused, particularly by outsourcing providers.
- N# x7 a$ i# ^' I& zAs in past years when the cap has been filled, USCIS will use a computer-generated random selection process to assign visas to applicants, the agency said. USCIS will refund filing fees to applicants not selected, unless they are found to have a duplicate application, the agency said. On March 24, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security banned duplicate filings and said it would reject all applications by an employer that files them.
7 d# Q; W3 }# ?This is the fifth consecutive year that the H-1B cap has been filled before the fiscal year begins, said Compete America, a coalition of companies, educators, research institutions and trade associations focused on increasing the U.S. supply of highly skilled workers.
) E) [1 P5 O- S) B: V  H9 u" H"U.S. employers deserve better than a random lottery to determine if they can hire the highly educated candidates they need," Robert Hoffman, vice president for government and public affairs at Oracle and cochairman of Compete America, said in a statement. "Congress has failed to address the problem as U.S. universities graduate highly educated individuals who leave to work in competitor nations. This madness must end this year."
: k+ _9 }. `; R: ~9 ^" C& Q5 ?Last week, the DHS extended the time that graduating foreign students in the science and technology fields could stay in the U.S. from 12 months to 29 months, under a program called Optional Practical Training. Compete America praised that decision, but said the U.S. needs "permanent" immigration reform.
1 l$ n# p0 V4 m2 c7 \But many U.S. tech companies have laid off workers in recent years as they call for a higher H-1B visa cap, and most of the top firms hiring H-1B workers in the U.S. are offshore outsourcing vendors, said Ron Hira, a public policy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and former chairman of the Career and Workforce Policy Committee at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA.
5 A  F9 Q, ]+ K' K! N/ Q: _7 O"These firms hire almost no Americans, and their entire business model rests on shifting as many American jobs overseas as fast as possible," Hira said recently.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/h1b/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207100385
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9 |: e, {6 U/ {U.S. Hits Cap On H-1B Visa Petitions For Fiscal 2009


The cap includes 65,000 general H-1B visas and 20,000 H-1B visa exemptions for foreign-born students who received advanced degrees from U.S. schools.
By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee
InformationWeek
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Tuesday said it received more than enough H-1B visa petitions to meet the annual cap of 85,000 for fiscal 2009 beginning Oct. 1.
The cap includes 65,000 general H-1B visas and 20,000 H-1B visa exemptions for foreign-born students who received advanced degrees from U.S. schools.
USCIS accepted the petitions for five days, beginning on April 1 and ending yesterday, April 7. During that time, the agency received "a high number" of petitions, although it hasn't yet disclosed exactly how many. An USCIS spokesman says it could be "days" before the agency is ready to announce its final count.
USCIS, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, says it also isn't ready to disclose when it will conduct its random, computer-generated selection of H-1B visa petitions.
Last April, USCIS received 133,000 H-1B petitions in two days before it stopped accepting the applications. This year, USCIS issued an interim rule saying it would accept the visa petitions for five days regardless of how the volume of applications coming in, giving employers more time to submit their petitions for the lottery. Technology companies, who have been lobbying for several years to raise the H-1B visa cap, have predicted that USCIS this year received a record number of petitions.
* L' u5 V9 O" H! sThe Dept. of Homeland Security late last week also issued an additional interim final ruling, extending by 17 months the Optional Practical Training (OPT) for qualified foreign students with F-1 visas and degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This allows those students to work for employers up to 29 months instead of only 12 months, giving those students more time to receive H-1B visas before their F-1 visas expire.
/ f- y" d- M6 m1 @  E5 D# ]. CThe hitch for employers: The extension is only available to students employed by companies that are enrolled in the Dept. of Homeland Security's E-Verify program, the government's electronic system for companies to verify that a job candidate is in the U.S. legally.