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Good news for those of you in graduate/professional programs![/COLOR]
On 08 December the President signed the "H -1B Visa Reform Act of 2004."This new law sets aside 20,000 new H-1B spaces for those who hold masters or higher degrees from U.S. educational institutions. Here are the basics on how this might affect you.
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1. The H-1B is a "temporary worker" status that many of our students attempt to obtain during or after completion of their F-1 Optional Practical Training (OPT) or their J-1 Academic Training (AT). By law, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is allowed to grant only 65,000 new H-1B petitions per year. This called the "H-1B Cap."[/COLOR]
2.Currently educational institutions and certain research facilitiesare exempt from the cap for H-1B petitions they file to hire people *into* employment. However, private industry, for whom many of our students wish to work, are subject to the cap. [/COLOR] The new lot of 65,000 spaces becameavailable this year on 01 October, and industry had already filed over 65,000 petitions in anticipation of the cap being reached; in short, all of the H-1B numbers were used up on the same day that they became available. For our students, that means that getting the H-1B in a timely way after or during OPT or AT is very difficult.
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