Interesting H1B Statistics for 2000 - India, Land of Techies
Posted Dec 02, 2000

A blurb in the October 16, 2000 issue of the weekly magazine U.S. News and World Report, citing the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) as its source, and possibly also relying on the Sept. 2000 Government Accounting Office (GAO) report, provides some interesting statistics on H1B use in the computer field. This brief news item was presented in connection with the U.S. Congress' passage of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty First Century Act (ACTA) in October 2000. ACTA increased the H1B quota for H1B professional workers and added other provisions which are particularly useful for employment based applicants for immigration. As many readers are aware, at the present time a large proportion of H1B employment is in the high technology sector. 

According to the INS, in the first five months of the calendar year 2000 -- that is, January through May 2000 -- there were a total of 42,563 H1B Petitions approved by the INS for technology positions within the computer industry. We at the Law Office of Sheela Murthy are not certain whether the INS keeps data on H1Bs for each occupational category or based on the nature of the employer's business, though the INS is certainly capable of doing so, because this type of information is required on the H1B petition itself (the Form I-129).

The statistics reveal an interesting trend. Indian nationals received about 65% of all H1B approvals, about 8 times as much as the next country, China, which was listed as receiving about 8%. Then came the Philippines at about 2.25%, about a quarter of the Chinese figure. Indian nationals constitute a large percentage of total H1B holders, considering all the fields combined: the high tech sector and other types of H1B positions. The percentage of Indians is sharply higher when looking at computer and other technology-related professionals alone. The majority of H1B computer "techies" come from Asian countries. Canada is the only non-Asian country included in the top five. 

Specific percentages are provided in the chart below; we believe that this information is consistent with a widespread opinion that the majority of the "techies" are Indians! 

Interesting Statistics on the Computer Industry related H1Bs :

Country	Total H1Bs Approved	% of Total H1Bs Approved
India	7,619	64.9%
China	3,438	8.08%
Philippines	960	2.25%
Canada	864	2.03%
Pakistan	814	1.9%

Additional statistical data on H1B allocation can be found in the September 2000 GAO report, which we described in our October 6, 2000 MurthyBulletin.