Chris Motta-Wurst and Dustin O’Quinn authored an article in the June issue of Seattle Business magazine titled “Immigration Opportunities: H-1B Alternatives for Employing Foreign Workers.” The article discusses various options available for employers to hire foreign workers when H-1B visas have been capped.
This year, [H-1B] applications could not be submitted before April 2. USCIS reached the congressionally mandated cap of 85,000 on April 6. More than 190,000 H-1B applications were filed during those five days, more than two times the amount of H-1Bs available. Therefore, USCIS will implement a lottery to choose which 85,000 of the 190,000 applications (44.7 percent) will be reviewed and, ideally, approved. In past years, the odds of making it into the lottery were even slimmer. Since so many H-1B applications are not selected in the lottery, companies must assess other options to employ foreign workers.