Owing to sluggish US economy, the H-1B visa programme, once the most sought after among Indian professionals, still has nearly 20,000 slots vacant, seven weeks after the American authorities started receiving applications for the fiscal 2010 beginning October this year.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Tuesday said it has so far received approximately 45,500 H-1B petitions against the Congressionally-mandated cap of 65,000. This is in contrast to the previous years when USCIS had to resort to computerised draw of lots as it used to receive petitions outnumbering the cap several times within the first few days of opening the scheme.