留美學生必看的好消息！

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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3. The new law sets aside 20,000 H-1Bs for any employer to use if that employer is hiring someone who holds an advanced degree (masters or higher) from a U.S. educational institution.  All of you who graduate with such degrees will be exempt from the cap, up until the 20,000 numbers are used up. [/COLOR] As the law is very new, DHS has not yet determined how it will count[/COLOR]

4. The law becomes effective 08 March 2005, 90 days after the President signed it.  DHS cannot grant these petitions until the effective date of 08 March, so the law will not help anyone *now* who is affected by the cap.[/COLOR]

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的確是好消息 ~~