The much talked about Stimulus Bill has wide implications for the H1 B visa hopefuls. A provision of the stimulus bill if passed will make it very tough for those companies which receive the bail out money to hire skilled foreign workers. This bill which raised debate within the house has survived it and made it to the final draft. The house has passed this without a single Republican vote and the Senate is expected to vote on this later today.

Tech companies such as Microsoft, Oracle and IBM has argued in the favor of increasing the cap on the H1 B visa limit which is now poised at 65,000. It is interesting to note that the cap limit for the year 2009 has already been reached. An incredible 123,000 applications has been received in the first two days of opening for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Apart from these stipulated 65,000 H1 B visas, 20,000 visas are reserved for the “advanced degree” students, typically the MS students take a large part of these applications.

Meanwhile the US has arrested 11 for H1 B visa fraud perpetrated by the Vision Systems Group. Sources within the goverment believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that fraud like this is being commited by a large number of fake companies forging fake experiences for the employees leading to displacement of highly skilled Americans.