Universities, nonprofits, and government research facilities are no longer subject to the annual cap on H1-B visas, thanks to the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act that passed last October. H1-B visas are intended for immigrants in specialty occupations—most of the visas are used for computer-related jobs. The new act also makes it easier for those already on an H1-B visa to switch jobs and raises the cap on other H1-Bs to 195‥000 for fiscal year 2002.
Every year since 1997, the US has maxed out on H1-B visas midyear, despite several increases in the cap. That left universities with lengthy delays before their new H1-B workers—research associates, assistant professors, and some postdocs—could get onto the payroll. “The cap was a huge, huge problem,” says Sylvia Ottemoeller, an immigration counselor at UCLA’s office of international students and scholars. Even without the cap, she adds, getting final approval from the Immigration and Naturalization Service can still take five to six months.
