Play to win an H1B Visa !

Yes ! Starting this year every April 1st, you can play the all new USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immegration Services) Lottery ! And yes, its totally different from the normal lotteries ... If you are the chosen one, you get an H1B visa but even if you lose, you get all your money back !! Do you have it in you ? Do you have what it takes ?

Seriously, this could very well be a new ad for USCIS H1B visa process !! Ok, enough of fun ! But, seriously, isnt this the state of the current H1B application process ? Ok, let me start from the beginning... H1B is the work visa USCIS offers to a US non-resident which allows one to work in US for a period of 3 years at a time. However, you can only apply for a new H1B visa during the period of April 1st - October 1st. Not only that, the total H1B visas given every year is also fixed and called as the 'H1B cap'. This cap is currently set to 65K (This was initially 195K and was changed to 65K in 2004) This appplies for ANY international student and NOT just for Indians.

Well, as most of you might be aware of (if not, read this), this year USCIS received 150K applications on April 2nd itself for the H1B visa. This quota of 65K, the cap was reached on day 1 of the allotted 6 months period !!! And USCIS was expecting another 150K applications to be made on April 3rd. Thats 300K applications, 5 times the quota !! So, USCIS announced that it will reject (!!) all applications made after April 3rd onwards. But that does NOT solve the real problem, does it ?

The real problem is choosing those lucky (!!) 65K candidates out of the 300K !! So, USCIS has decided on a 'random' selection process. All those chosen will get H1B this year and those who are not so lucky (at least) get their money back ...

So what went wrong ? Suddenly how come there are so many applicants ? Well, the market is much better right now ! All the companies are hiring big time !! So, all the Masters students are graduating as early and as fast as they can ... The offshoring is going on but I think its close to its saturation level and hence, the hiring here has accelerated ... Also, already working people are getting married and trying to get their spouses to US on H1 (including me :) ) ... All those who missed out on the opportunity last year are trying it now ... also there are the visa conversions ... H4 to H1, F1 to H1, L1 to H1 and so on ...

You will ask so what ? well, a hard limit of 65k was never gonna be enough .. As more and more people come to US (and there is no limit on the number of F1(student), L1 (exchange work) visas issued), one day 65K was gonna seem like just a small drop of water in front of ocean of thursty people ... Its just that that day is here already !! Sooner that expected ... So, all of the applicants have to play this lottery ... Appplying for premium processing helps in a way as the processing is done faster and you get to know the result faster ! At least, you are informed earlier - accepted or not ! So at least you can act accordingly on your backup plans !

So, hang in there in guys and gals ! My full sympathy is with you ... Will you make it in the 20% ? Unless, USCIS decides to change it back to 195K or more, its gonna be the story every year ... This is funny ... On a normal day, I would never think like this but now I just hope this 'random' selection is as 'random' as the selection for 'bag security check' at the airports !! I am almost confident of getting selected every year - let them make the chances down to 5% :) !!

Well, jokes apart, I myself am trying for my fiance' ! so wish us luck :) ...