WASHINGTON, DC – Today, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting H-1B visa petitions for Fiscal Year 2019. There are 65,000 visas available, and another 20,000 for individuals who hold advanced degrees. FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement today on the opening of the H-1B petition filing window:

“Immigration has always been a source of strength for our country’s economy and our communities. The H-1B visa is a key part of our high-skilled immigration system that needs to be reformed to allow the United States to remain the center for global innovation. We should make it easier for the best and brightest to come from around the world while also cracking down on bad actors. H-1B visa holders create jobs and raise wages for native-born Americans by bringing their ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit to the science, engineering, and tech sectors, creating American jobs and benefiting thousands of businesses and countless communities across the country. Reforming and expanding high-skilled immigration is an important part of a broader fight to protect legal immigration avenues.

“Within a few days we expect that the H-1B visa lottery will reach the annual cap, as it has for the past six years, highlighting the overwhelming demand for this visa category. There are many ways in which our immigration system is broken and in need of comprehensive reform; fixing our legal and high-skilled immigration system, including protecting the H-4 rule and eliminating country caps for green cards, will ensure the United States can maintain our global competitive advantage.”