The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said Thursday that it has received enough applications to claim the 64,300 H-1B visas it has available for the 2007 federal fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
There are an additional 20,000 visas for advanced degrees holders. As of this week, only 5,830 visas had been issued, but the number of applications for the remaining slots is expected to pick up now that students are graduating from college.
This is the earliest the H-1B cap has been reached. The USCIS won't accept new applications until next April.
The cap was set at 65,000 by Congress, but 6,800 visas are set aside for Chile and Singapore under trade agreements. The visas made available to those two countries are called H-1B1, but only 700 were claimed, and the others were added back into the H-1B cap, according to the USCIS.
The H-1B is an intensely controversial program and the arguments for and against it have been firmly drawn. Supporters say the visas are needed to ensure that the U.S. has an ample supply of highly skilled technical professionals. Opponents see it as a means for replacing citizens and permanent residents with lower-cost workers.
H-1B advocates are urging Congress to increase the cap. The U.S. Senate has approved a provision in a pending immigration bill that would raise the annual cap to 115,000, but the House and Senate have not agree on a final immigration bill and it's fate is uncertain. But the H-1B cap may still be increased in other bills.
Congress has a number of other bills that could raise the cap, such as the Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership Act introduced by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). That bill also seeks a 115,000 cap and includes a provision for increases if that limit is reached.