Over 18,000 H-1B visas still available

September 22nd, 2009 LAHORE - Over 350 Indian Sikh pilgrims, in Pakistan to attend the death anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, have urged New Delhi and Islamabad to allow pilgrims to travel without visas. The Sikhs, travelling under the aegis of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee, arrived here Monday and would be visiting Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib situated in Narowal district of Pakistan.

September 10th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan-based terrorists are exploiting Britain's shoddy visa system to come to the country. Pakistan is considered by Britain as the No.1 base for Islamic extremists brainwashing potential terrorists.

August 25th, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR - With the Malaysian Tourism Ministry planning to introduce a new facility in order to achieve its one million visitors target, Indian tourists planning to visit Malaysia will now be able to obtain travel visas within a day. The Star quoted the country's Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen, as saying that the Malaysian High Commission in Delhi and its two consulates would shorten the time to process visas to one working day from its current three days.

August 21st, 2009 Akhaurah (India-Bangladesh Border), - Bangladesh has said it will increase trade and economic activities with India's northeast region and develop infrastructure at the border. Bangladesh Commerce Minister Colonel (retired) Faruk Khan said: "We have decided to increase trade and business with the northeastern region to reduce Bangladesh's trade gap with India.

July 31st, 2009 LONDON - A Brit woman, who tripped and broke her leg when her stiletto heel got stuck in a crack in pub's floor, has been given 18,000 pounds as compensation. Selena Gilder, 40, was having a cigarette in a pub smoking area in October 2007 when the heel stuck in the crack, and she fell backwards through an unsealed door, breaking the tibia and fibula of her right leg.

July 28th, 2009 US revokes visas for Honduran officialsWASHINGTON — The Obama administration has revoked the diplomatic visas of four Honduran officials working in its interim government and is reviewing the visa status of other officials and their families, the State Department said Tuesday. Spokesman Ian Kelly said the revocations and the review affect Honduran officials who were serving the government of ousted President Manuel Zelaya before he was deposed on June 28, but now work for the "de facto regime" of interim President Roberto Micheletti.

July 27th, 2009 New Delhi, - A whopping 18,183 cases were filed against firms violating the Companies Act between Jan 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, the government said Monday. Further, a total of 238 companies were identified as having "vanished" after cheating the public and siphoning off funds garnered by subscriptions to initial public offers (IPOs), said Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

June 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian corporates could slow down investment in the US if the strict American policy on issuing temporary visas is not relaxed, says a study by a leading industry lobby and a global consultancy. "The tight-fisted US policy on the grant of H-1B visas to Indian employers may dampen the appetite of Indian corporates for investing in the US," said Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and consultancy Ernst and Young in a statement Thursday.

June 12th, 2009 US swine flu cases grow to nearly 18,000ATLANTA — Nearly 5,000 new U.S. swine flu cases have been reported in the last week, due partly to its continuing spread in the Northeast.

June 3rd, 2009 3 Colombians charged in US visa fraud caseWASHINGTON — Three Colombian citizens have been arrested on charges of alien smuggling — accused of coaching more than 100 people how to lie to obtain visas to travel to the United States. The three were arrested Tuesday in Bogota after being indicted in federal court in Washington.

May 7th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has refused to issue visas to a team of British officials who were supposed to visit Islamabad to facilitate signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both the countries on extradition of unwanted, suspicious persons. According to the officials Islamabad has decided not to issue visas to register its protest against the arrest of Pakistani students over suspicion of them plotting terror attacks across Britain.

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pop singer Justin Timberlake has revealed his make-out session with actress Jessica Biel at the Lakers game on April 21. Timberlake, 28, said that he and Biel, 27, were not usually in the habit of displaying their affection in public, but they were so caught up in the moment that they were not able to stop themselves.

April 21st, 2009 LONDON - Students of Pakistani origin are being granted British visas on the basis of a telephone interview, even as investigation teams probe different aspects of a crackdown involving twelve alleged Pakistan 'student' terrorists. The Telegraph reports that British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has admitted that some visa applications are being decided over the telephone.

April 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - With the demand for jobs going down in a recession hit economy, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services(USCIS) has received only 42,000 applications for H-1B visas for skilled workers against the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. Additionally, the agency has received approximately 20,000 applications from advanced degrees for the fiscal year 2010 programme beginning Oct 1, the agency said Thursday.

April 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Debunking the myth that H-1B visas steal American jobs, a US think tank has asked the Congress to instead raise the cap on them to promote economic growth and generate much needed tax revenue. Congress must raise the cap on H-1B visas coveted by Indian techies back to 195,000 visas per year - the maximum allowed as recently as 2001 - from the current 65,000, The Heritage Foundation analysts Jena Baker McNeill and Diem Nguyen said Tuesday.