As we reported to you in an earlier Client Alert at the beginning of the month, there are no cap‑subject H‑1B visa numbers available for 18 months, or until October 1, 2008 – the beginning of the federal government 2009 fiscal year.
The additional 20,000 visa numbers available to foreign nationals who hold Masters or higher degrees from U.S. institutions will likely be used up by the end of this month. In addition, serious backlogs exist in the employment-based (EB) immigrant categories.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is seeking to get U.S. companies to ‘sign on’ to a letter that will be sent to each member of Congress requesting that they take action to increase the H-1B quota and EB numbers. I urge you to agree to sign on to this letter, which is available for download below.
Your company, by agreeing to lend its name to this letter, will increase the chances of raising the H-1B cap back to a more rational level and of obtaining more EB green card numbers. You don’t need to actually sign and send the letter; just send an email to the KILP lawyer and/or paralegal that works on your matters letting him or her know that you are willing to sign it and also let him or her know if you are agreeing to sign on behalf of the company or on behalf of a division or local office of the company. Only your company name, city and state need appear. Individual responsible persons at a company need not be named.
We also encourage you to contact your members of Congress directly through personalizing a model letter that will be delivered by email to the appropriate Senators and Representatives. You can access this model letter at http://capwiz.com/aila2/issues/alert/?alertid=9589591.
Thank you in advance for your help on this important issue.
