The H-1B visa, much sought after by overseas professionals including Indians in the US, is losing its sheen due to eroded employment opportunities on account of economic downturn.
TillSeptember 25, 2009 six months after applications were invited for alloted 65,000 visas, only 46,700 applications were filed, "a sign of how the weak economy has eroded employment even among highly-trained professionals," The Wall Street Journal reported today. The visas have seen a slump first time since 2003.
Even as the recession reared its head last year, employers had snapped up all 65,000 visas in just one day. Usually, all visas are allocated within a month or two from April, when applications for the following fiscal year are first accepted.
This year "you can still walk in with an application and you're still highly likely to get approved," R Srikrishna, senior official for HCL Technologies Ltd, was quoted as saying.
Srikrishna added that instead of bringing over Indian engineers, HCL has been hiring American employees who otherwise might have been let go by clients switching the work to HCL. Last year, HCL hired more than 1,000 employees from clients and received just 87 H-1B visas.
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