NFAP: IMMIGRANTS BEHIND HALF OF VENTURE FUNDED START-UPS

In case you think that those who say our restrictive immigration policies hurt America's ability to compete and generate good jobs are just spouting off unsubstantiated arguments, here is proof that they're right. From the Wall Street Journal:

Immigrants have started nearly half of America’s 50 top venture-funded companies and are key members of management or product development teams in almost 75 percent of those companies.
Those are the results of a new study by the National Foundation for American Policy, which cites the numbers in calling for changes to immigration policy to make it easier for immigrant entrepreneurs to come to the United States and begin building companies.
Using the “Next Big Thing” list of Top 50 venture-funded companies published in March 2011 in The Wall Street Journal and compiled by research firm VentureSource, a unit of Journal owner News Corp., the research finds that 46 percent, or 23 out of 50, of the country’s top venture-funded companies had at least one immigrant founder.
The research also found that 37 of the top 50 companies, or 74 percent, had at least one immigrant helping the company grow and innovate by filling a key management or product development position. Chief technology officer, chief executive and vice president of engineering are the most common positions held by immigrants in the top 50 venture-backed companies.

The NFAP report notes that legislation is needed to ensure we continue to attract these business superstars. Unfortunately, we have a dysfunctional Congress where most members probably agree that we need changes to attract entrepreneurs but are so cowed by a tiny minority of antis that they're afraid to make even modest changes, much less do anything bold.

The study by the National Foundation of American Policy can be found at:
http://www.nfap.com/pdf/NFAPPolicyBriefImmigrantFoundersandKeyPersonnelinAmericasTopVentureFundedCompanies.pdf

H-1B CAP EXHAUSTED, SO NOW WHAT?

The H-1B cap has been reached or exhausted for government fiscal year 2012. New visas for cap-subject cases can be filed on April 1, 2012 for a start date on October 1, 2012, for government fiscal year 2013.
What happens now with companies who wish to hire and people who wish to work during this year?
The good news for students currently enrolled in school is that if they graduate in May 2012 and receive Optional Practical Training or OPT, and even for those whose OPTs expire in May or June 2012, they can continue to work if a new H-1B petition is filed for them in April 2012 and a change of status is requested.
Another option would be to file an H-1B for a cap exempt organization. The most common cap exempt organizations are higher education institutions and non-profit research organizations. Employees working for these organizations are not counted against the cap. However, also employees that work for a for-profit company that predominately services these cap-exempt organizations may qualify for an H-1B cap exemption. This is a very common scenario in physician practice. Many physicians work for private practice groups but they actually perform their services in hospitals that are either university hospitals or non-profit hospitals that may be classified as research hospitals and in that case those physicians can still claim their cap exemption and be granted H-1B status in the mean time, even though the visas are gone.
For additional questions, please visit our physicians immigration site:
http://www.physiciansimmigration.com/

H-1B CAP REACHED ON NOVEMBER 22, 2011

We all knew it was about to be reached but as of late Wednesday November 23, 2011, USCIS has announced that the H-1B cap was reached a day earlier on November 22, 2011, and will reject any H-1B cap applications filed after that day for fiscal year 2012. This is very disappointing because the prior cap update was based on Friday's receipts (just 2 days before) that USCIS announced that there were approximately 3,200 H-1B visas available. While we predicted that the cap would probably be reached by the end of November, the 1,500+ filings per day is a very large volume.
Employees that need a cap-subject H-1B must wait to file their petition until April 1, 2012, for an employment start date of October 1, 2012, which is almost a year out.
Congress should act and increase the quota now!

USCIS UPDATES 2012 H-1B COUNT ON 11/18/2011: AT 61,800

USCIS just released an H-1B cap update. As of November 18, 2011, they have received 61,800 petitions subject to the regular cap. The advanced degree quota has been already exhausted. That means there were about 3,200 visas as of last Friday so the quota will most probably be exhausted by the end of this week notwithstanding the holiday. The best case scenario would be exhaustion next week if the holiday slows down the filing some. It's crunch time.
Happy Thanksgiving holiday!

Does H-1B Usage Show Economy Picking Up?

After more than two years of anemic use of the H-1B visa, employers are suddenly applying in bigger numbers for the professional worker visa. As of today, more than 56,000 H-1Bs out of a quota of 65,000 have been used. The quota is likely to be exhausted some time in the next 2-3 weeks. That's two months ahead of last year. Despite what the protectionists say, H-1B usage reflects the market. When the economy is hot, H-1B numbers go fast. And when it's in the dumps, the numbers last a while. H-1B applications are also a leading indicator since employers often file months ahead of when they expect the visa and the candidate to be available. So one might see this news as reason for optimism.

USCIS UPDATES 2012 H-1B COUNT ON 11/14/2011: AT 56,300

USCIS just issued another H-1B cap update. As of November 14, 2011 (yesterday), they have received approximately 56,300 H-1B petitions subject to the regular cap. The master's degree quota has been reached previously. As there are approximately 65,000 H-1B visas available, there are less than 9,000 visas left. At a rate of about 3,000 visas per week there are 2 or 3 more weeks to go before the cap is reached, but it is very likely that it will be reached sooner as during the last weeks people are filing faster.
File now or lose it until next October 1, 2012.
If you need help, please call us at 770-913-0800 or visit our page at: http://www.visalaw.com/atlanta.html

USCIS UPDATES 2012 H-1B COUNT ON 11/2/2011: AT 50,800

USCIS issued an H-1B cap update. As of November 2, 2011, USCIS has received approximately 50,800 H-1B petitions subject to the regular cap of 65,000. The advanced degree quota has already been exhausted. There are less than 14,000 visas available, so probably the cap will be reached by the end of November or early December 2011.
Hurry up and file if you need a visa before October 2012!