H1B visas are no longer the exclusive domain of IT graduates, but are ideal for specialized foreign workers looking to work in the USA, according to an immigration specialist.

Professor Lois Wise of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, an expert on ‘insourcing’ and short-term cross-border employment, said that IT workers were steadily taking a smaller proportion of the annual H1B allocation.

Though outspoken technology advocates such as Bill Gates believe the H1B cap should be considerably raised to accommodate the cream of the world’s IT talent, it is expatriates who perform niche and highly specialized roles who are set to capitalize on the increase.

H1Bs were originally introduced as a tool to handpick the best young minds in IT. Today around two thirds of the annual quota of entrants work in the technology sector but, according to Ms Wise, “that share has been steadily declining”.

“The visas are now very, very widely applied in many occupational groups including teachers, doctors and state government administrators,” the insourcing expert continued.

The vast majority of foreign applicants who successfully apply to work in the USA under the H1B programme are between the ages of 24 and 34.

Contributed by J.Bevan