The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) allotted 72.6% or 3.20 lakh out of the total 4.41 lakh total H-1B visa applications to Indians in the fiscal year 2022, the Times of India reported.
China ranked second in the list with the US allotting 12.5% of the total H-1B visa applications to Chinese citizens. The USCIS approved 55,038 Chinese H-1B visa applications in the last fiscal year.
Third in the list is US’ neighbour Canada, with the USCIS allotting 1% of the total approved visa applications to its neighbour. The USCIS approved 4,235 Canadian visa applications.
These visa approvals also include H-1B visas for initial employment as well as visa extensions, the Times of India said in its report.
These visas can be allotted for a maximum of six years and if the visa receiver, usually sponsored by an American employer, is on track for a green card then periodical extensions are permitted.
The USCIS in its report titled ‘ Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers – 2022’ said it increased its approval of H-1B visas by 8.6% in fiscal 2022.
The Times of India report also pointed out that in fiscal year 2021, Indian applicants obtained 74.1% of the total visas approved, leading to 3.01 lakh Indians successfully obtaining H-1B visas.
Meanwhile, only 50,328 Chinese, making up 12.4% of the total H-1B visas approved, obtained H-1B visas.
The report pointed out that Indians over the past few years have successfully obtained 70% of the H-1B visas issued by USCIS.
The report pointed out that the USCIS approved 1.32 lakh H-1B visa applications for initial employment, registering a rise of 9,000 more H-1B visas compared to the 1.23 lakh visas approved in 2021. The Times of India report highlighted that the layoffs reported in late 2022 and first few months of 2023 will figure in next year’s report.
The H-1B visa applications for ‘initial employment’ are filed when a person is employed for the first time in the US and the report points out that 77,673 applicants received an H-1B visa for new employment compared to the 18,911 Chinese applicants who successfully obtained the visa approval.
International students also made up a large chunk of the approved visas with many transitioning from F-1 to H-1B visas.
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