Foreigners seeking high-skilled worker visas hope to beat the odds

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2007 | by Kathy Kiely

WASHINGTON -- From high-heeled fashion models to high-skilled techies, foreign workers are waiting this month to hear whether they've won an unprecedented lottery for temporary U.S. work visas.

The lottery is in response to an overwhelming demand for 65,000 high-skilled worker visas. More than 123,000 applications arrived at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the first 48 hours after the April 1 filing date. Immigration officials cut off processing any others at that point.

For minor league baseball and hockey players, however, the wait is over: Congress last year exempted them from a cap on work visas.

Congress over the years has quietly created new categories and crafted exemptions to get around limits on some of the work visas most in...