THE UNITED States will issue 20,000 new H-1B visas to foreign workers

US to grant 20,000 more H-1B visas -- DoLE
By Veronica Uy INQ7.net - Friday, Jul 8, 2005, Philippines

THE UNITED States will issue 20,000 new H-1B visas to foreign workers, including Filipinos, seeking professional jobs there, the Department of Labor and Employment said.

H-1B visas are granted to highly skilled foreign workers in professions like architecture, engineering, medicine, and computer programming.
A report reaching the labor department said the new regulation, which took effect on May 5, changed the H-1B filing procedures beginning 2005.

But the additional new H-1B visas will be granted only to foreign workers with at least a master's degree from a US academic institution, the report said.
The same report said the US government, through its US Citizenship and Immigration Services, was offering the additional H-1B visas on top of the 65,000 H-1B visas already being made available to foreign workers annually, as mandated by the US Congress in 1990.

The H-1B visa category was established under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990, allowing US employersto augment their labor force with highly skilled temporary workers.
H-1B workers are admitted to the US for an initial period of three years, which might be extended to another three years. In 2004, some 3,831 Filipinos were deployed to the US, quite a number of who were health workers.
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