IndiaPost.com - US receives enough applications for H-2B visa

WASHINGTON: US authorities have announced receiving enough applications for the H-2B visa, widely sought by the Indians seeking employment, and will apply a computer- generated random selection process to reach the limit of 33,000 workers for the first half of 2009.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had notified that July 29 would be the "final receipt date" for filing new H-2B visa applications for employment start dates prior to April 1, 2009. The H-2B visa is a temporary visa that allows employers in the US to recruit overseas workers if the need for foreign employee is only temporary in nature.

The USCIS said it has received enough applications to reach the Congressionally mandated limit of 33,000 H-2B workers for the first half of 2009. "USCIS will apply a computer-generated random selection process to all petitions which are subject to the cap and were received on July 29, 2008," the agency said.

USCIS will use this process to select the number of petitions needed to meet the cap. USCIS will reject, and return the fee, for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected," the agency said in a statement. Petitions for workers who are currently in H-2B status do not count towards the congressionally mandated bi-annual H-2B cap.

The agency has also notified that it will continue to process applications filed to extend the stay of a current H-2B worker in the US; change the terms of employment for current H-2B workers and extend their stay; or allow current H-2B workers to change or add employers and extend their stay.