Indian Geeks Flip For H1-B

Date: Saturday, September 06, 2003 2:31 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

According to this article the US consulate says that in 2003 they will
issue 220,000 nonimmigrant visas from India. Bernard J Alter, the US
Consul General at Chennai, said that H-1B visas constituted a major
part of the total number of non-immigration visas. If this is true,
then the total number of H-1B visas issued is dramatically increasing.

H-1B visas are issued to many other countries besides India so this
large number of visas goes way over the total number of H-1B visas
allowed per year of 195,000. The only way this could be explained would
be to assume that many of these visas are exempt from the limit. To
find out more about exempt categories, use this link for a newsletter
titled "Some History of the H-1B Cap."

http://makeashorterlink.com/?O230522D5

Listed below are the major categories of H-1Bs that are exempted from
the yearly cap:

* institutions of higher education or a related or affiliated nonprofit
entities

* school teachers K-12

* nonprofit research organizations

* governmental research organizations

* physicians formerly holding "J-1" student visas

http://www3.estart.com/india/news/geeks.html

Indian Geeks Flip For H1-B

The US accounts for about 60 per cent of India's software services
exports. Some of the biggest clients of Indian software majors in US
include Boeing Co, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, General Electric,
Lucent Technologies and RSA Security

BANGALORE - The demand for H1B visas temporary work visas for
technically trained foreign nationals issued by the US among the Indian
information technology (IT) professionals continues unabated,
notwithstanding the talks of a economic slowdown in the US.

"We haven't seen the effects of the slowdown yet. Compared to the
previous year, the number has gone up for non-immigration visas,"
Bernard J Alter, the US Consul General at Chennai, said.

In the last four months, demand for non-immigration visas have gone up
by 45 per cent, as compared to last year and "a majority of these are
IT professionals," Alter said.

The US accounts for about 60 per cent of India's software services
exports. Some of the biggest clients of Indian software majors in US
include Boeing Co, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, General Electric,
Lucent Technologies and RSA Security.

Industry analyst had predicted that a slowdown in the US economy would
result in lower capital spending in IT sector and that could lead to
slump in the demand for India software services companies and
professionals in the U.S. market.

"Last year, we issued 165,000 non-immigration visas and this year, we
expect to issue 220,000 visas, including H1B visas," Donald Ney,
commercial attachi at the Chennai US Consulate, told a seminar on
Indian companies and stock markets here.

"Let me make it clear that these are estimates. Out of the 165,000
non-immigration visas, about 30,000 were IT professionals. And, as the
figure goes up to 220,000, our estimate would be about 45,000 IT
professionals," says Alter.

According to India's IT industry think tank National Association of
Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), India's software exports
crossed $4 billion in 1999-2000, and are estimated at $6.3 billion in
the current fiscal year. Software exports are expected to grow roughly
50 per cent every year to reach $50 billion in 2007-08, it said.

Alter said H1B visas constituted a major part of the total number of
non-immigration visas issued in the last four months. "But this is not
all. Even the immigration visas are up by 33 per cent triggered by
professionals returning to pick up their spouses and parents," says
Alter.

"We expect the figure to go up to half a million this year. And, by
2005, we expect to process one million applications. Even if 25 per
cent are refused, something like 750,000 Indians would be travelling to
the US on non-immigration visas," he said.

According to the official, one out of every four persons entering the
US is from the south of India. "Unlike the north of India, where the
link language is Hindi, English is the link language in the south. And,
this is definitely one of the major reasons. There are also other
factors like the people from the south historically looking at
travelling across the seas, unlike the north," says Alter.

And, as the US consulates get more work on their hands processing
applications, the land of opportunities remains the envy of other
nations that are opening up their doors for the Indian IT professional.

But, the beeline for US visas has put human resource managers of Indian
IT companies on a permanent look out for middle-level professionals and
talent search and retention have become the watchwords among human
resources managers.

India needs 2.2 million software experts, up from the current figure of
340,000, to reach projected exports of $50 billion by 2008, says the
industry association Nasscom.

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