Although the recent downturn of the U.S. economy has caused unemployment to rise in some industries, like construction, it has done little to dampen the perennially strong demand for skilled workers in high-tech companies, universities, and research institutes. Yet policymakers continue to impose an arbitrary numerical cap of 65,000 per year on how many new H-1B visas can be granted to highly skilled workers from other countries, plus another 20,000 per year for foreign graduates of advanced degree programs at U.S. universities. For years, this cap has not come close to meeting demand. For instance, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting H-1B applications for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 on April 1—and announced on April 8 that it had been inundated by roughly 163,000 applications, would not accept any more applications, and would award the available slots for FY 2009 by computer lottery.
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