Got an email update from the lawyer and this one caught my eyes...

Foreign Students May Need to Return to Home Country to Obtain H-1B Visas

Senior immigration officials who spoke late last month at the annual conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association stated that President Bush wants tighter screening of foreign students. For that reason, the officials said, he prefers that foreign students return to their home countries to obtain H-1B visas because foreign students can be subjected to criminal and security clearances at U.S. consular interviews before they return to the U.S. Action on the President's preference has not yet been taken.

Meanwhile, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced that approximately 58,200 H-1B petitions are approved or in the pipeline that will be counted against the fiscal year 2006 H-1B cap of 65,000. About 10,000 H-1B petitions that are approved or are in the pipeline will count against the 20,000 exemptions for applicants holding advanced degrees from U.S. institutions for fiscal year 2005.