Just two days after it began accepting applications (.pdf) for H1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today started turning people away. Last year, USCIS reached its H1B cap of 85,000 in just two months. This year, however, shattered all records, and the agency received 150,000 visa applications in a matter of hours.
USCIS will return applications received after Tuesday and begin the process of determining the lucky few who get into the country. Last month, Bill Gates warned Congress in a hearing that H1Bs would run out before foreign-born scientists studying in the U.S. even graduated. Looks like Gates was a month off.
