Over 21 lakh Indians applied for H1B visa in last 11 years: USCIS report
More than 21 lakh Indian technology professionals have applied for H1B work visas in the last 11 years, says the USCIS report
Washington: More than 21 lakh Indian technology professionals have applied for H1B work visas in the last 11 years, an official report has said. The report of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has also refuted the impression that those who applied for the visa were not highly qualified.
On an average, their salary over the last 11 years has been $92,317 and an overwhelming majority of them are masters or bachelor’s degree holder. According to the report since 2007 till June this year, the USCIS received 3.4 million (34 lakh) H1B visas applications, of which people from India accounted for 21 lakh.
During the same period, the US issued H1B visas to 26 lakh people, the USCIS said in its report, which however does not give countrywide breakdown. In terms of number of H1B applications between 2007 and 2017, India is followed by a distant China with 296,313 H-1B applications, Philippines (85,918), South Korea (77,359), and Canada (68,228).
The report said majority (23 lakh) of the beneficiary of H1B visas were in the age group of 25-34, and 20 lakh came from the computer related occupation category. Computer was followed by architecture, engineering, and surveying (318,670), education (244,000), administrative specialisations (245,000), and medicine and health (185,000).
Sometimes people post their retirement age have been given H1B visas. In all these 11 years, more than 2,000 foreign nationals of more than 65 years of age received H1B visas. This year alone so far 122 H1B visas have been allocated to those above 65 years.
The report said custom computer programming services industry received the maximum number of 999, 901 H1B visas in these years. It was followed by computer systems design services (287,000) and college universities and professional schools (229,00).
Contrary to the general perception, the average salary of H1B visas have increased significantly since 2007 when it was $68,159. In 2017, the average salary of H1B visas holder foreign guest worker is $92,317.
The USCIS’s report was first reported by Breitbart news. “The USCIS date shows that between 2007 and 2017, the H- 1B visa, which imports foreign workers to take American jobs, the programme has grown exponentially. The vast majority of visa-holders are from India," Breitbart said, adding that roughly 70 to 80 per cent of the foreign workers imported every year are from India. The Trump administration is currently reviewing the H1B visa policy. PTI
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