H-1B Visas by the numbers

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 set up the H-1B Visa, which issues temporary visas for employers to bring foreign workers to the United States. Employers are required to pay $1,000 for each individual H-1B Visa. The grants are funded out of that pool of money.

From Oct. 1, 2000, to Sept. 30, 2002, 517,557 H-1B Visas were issued nationwide. Missouri ranked 19th in the nation, receiving 5,521. Nearly half of Missouri's H-1B Visas were issued for workers in computer-related occupations such as systems analysis and programming, data communications, and network and technical support.

According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 299,046 petitions for H-1B Visas were filed and 257,640 were approved during the 2000 fiscal year. Of those applications, 164,814 were for initial employment and 134,232 were for continuing employment.

There were 342,035 applications in fiscal year 2001, with 331,206 approved. Petitions for initial employment jumped to 201,543, a 47 percent increase over 2000, while petitions for continuing employment totaled 140,492, an 8 percent increase.

In 2001, 48.9 percent (161,561) of H-1B Visa workers were from India, 8.3 percent (27,330) were from China, 3.9 percent (12,726) were from Canada, 3.1 percent (10,389) were from the Philippines and 2.9 percent (9,682) were from the United Kingdom.

Most workers 41.9 percent (138,450) fell into the 25-29 age group, followed by 25.8 percent (85,084) in the 30-34 age group.