June 5th, 2006
Tech visa quotas met for 2007, cross-border projects impacted
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the government has already reached the 65,000 annual cap on H-1B visas for 2007, according to a report in ZDNet. Tech firms in the U.S. rely on the visa program to recruit engineers and computer programmers from overseas and International firms use the program to implement cross-border projects with U.S. companies.
The Israeli tech industry feels it will be at a particular disadvantage. Globes, an Israeli business publication, reports that “High-tech and biotechnology companies with commitments to projects in the US will not be able to relocate staff.”:
Specialist law firm Schwartz-Ken-Tor: “The business sector, especially the Israeli high-tech industry, has been badly hit been by the closure of the quota so soon, because we don’t have any alternatives that are available to people from countries such as Japan, Korea, Germany, France and the UK, who can apply for an E-2 visa.
In addition, high-tech experts from other countries can also apply for other categories of visa not available to Israelis, such as TN, which was created under the aegis of the free trade agreement with the US, and E-3, which is granted to applicants from Australia.
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