LANSING – April 3rd marked the first day this year that H-1B visa applications were accepted by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The date holds particular significance for many employers who hire technical talent, as the H-1B is a vehicle by which many difficult-to-hire IT and engineering vacancies are filled with foreign workers. Historically, the application cap of 85,000 has been reached within five days.
This year, the agency announced that it is temporarily suspending the option of premium processing, which speeds up the review turnaround time, in an effort to curb suspected fraud and abuse of the H-1B system. But H-1B should only be part of a larger strategy for finding technical talent.
In a labor climate characterized by scarcity and an ever-increasing demand for technical expertise, the USCIS policy may leave employers feeling all the more constrained in their ability to fill needed high-tech positions. Yet for many organizations, the visa process is but one piece in the frustrating puzzle of attracting and retaining technical talent. Technical recruitment, in general, has become a significant challenge.
To read the rest of this column from Dan Van Slambrook, courtesy of SBAM Approved Partner ASE, click on https://www.sbam.org/Resources/tabid/97/ArtMID/2980/ArticleID/2791/Finding-technical-talent-is-tough-not-impossible.aspx
