The New York metropolitan area has the highest demand for H-1B visas, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and Washington, a new report on geographical distribution of this most sought-after work visa has revealed.
“The New York metropolitan area had by far the highest demand for H-1Bs: almost 53,000 on average over the 2010-2011 period, accounting for more than 16 per cent of national demand,” the Brookings Institute said in its report on H-1B visas, which was released yesterday.
“Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and Washington made up the remaining top five metro areas, each with between 14,000 and 18,000 requests.
“Together, the top nine metro areas accounted for half of all requests nationwide; these metro areas are also among the largest by total population,” the report said.
The Brookings Institute said the demand for H-1B workers, however, is not limited to large metropolitan areas.
Other metropolitan areas
Durham in North Carolina, with just over 500,000 total population in 2010, ranked 20th for total H-1B requests despite ranking 102nd for total population. Likewise, Trenton in New Jersey, which ranks 138th for total population, ranked 29th for H-1B demand.
In all, 22 metropolitan areas that do not rank among the 100 largest in the US ranked among the top 106 for H-1B demand.
In these and other metropolitan areas, H-1B demand intensity, calculated as the ratio of H-1Bs requested to the total number of jobs in the metro area, is high.
The San Jose metro area — home of Silicon Valley — ranks highest at 17. 10 requests per 1,000 workers compared to 2.40 for the nation. The next three highest intensity metro areas were — Columbus, Indian, Durham, North Carolina, and Trenton, New Jersey.
Highest requesting employers
In its report, the Brookings said the 100 highest requesting employers in 2010-2011 account for 20 per cent of national demand.
Two-thirds of these employers are headquartered in the United States, and their LCAs account for 60 per cent of requests from these 100 employers.
Twenty-seven of these employers were classified as Fortune 500 in 2011, and those requests make up one-third of this group.