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Washington: the H1B visa programme is unlikely to reach its cap of 65,000 before the start of the 2010 fiscal with nearly 20,000 slots lying vacant thanks to the tattered US economy.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it has received approximately 49,000 H1B petitions till August seven counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap, more than four months after it started accepting applications for visas for the 2010 fiscal begining this October.

This is in contrast to the previous years when the USCIS had to resort to computerised draw of lots as it received petitions outnumbering several times more than the Congressional mandated cap of 65,000 within the first few days after it started receiving H-1B applications.

The figure of 20,000 slots in the vacant category has remained almost the same for the past two months. This is also due to a large number of rejections of H-1B petitions.

Indian IT professionals have been a major beneficiary of H-1B visas, figures released in the past have said.

For the fiscal 2010, the USCIS started receiving H-1B petitions from April 1. In the first five working days, it received 42,000 H-1B petitions. In the month and half since then, USCIS has received just 7,000 more H-1B petitions.

This is mainly attributed to the current economic crisis and the tougher measures being adopted by the USCIS and the State Department in sanctioning of H-1B visas.