The once most coveted H1-B visa, which permits foreign professionals to work in the United States for a limited period, appears to be losing its appeal.

The cap was lowered in 2004 from nearly 2 lakh to 65,000 in the 'regular' category and 20,000 more for those with postgraduate degrees from US universities. Usually applications for H1-B visas exceed the number that will be issued, within the first few days of a new financial year.

But in 2009-10, the cap exceeded on the 21st of December. In this financial year, until the third week of April, there have only been around 16,000 applications in the regular category and 6,700 in the Masters quota as per USCIS.

With the US economy yet to recover from financial meltdown and unemployment remaining high, it is no longer the "golden apple" for professionals it once used to be. It is possible that companies using these visas the most may have enough visas from previous years while new regulatory measures have also made matters difficult for IT consulting firms when it comes to proving they had concrete clients six months in advance.

In addition, there is intensified scrutiny extended to US airports where those with H1Bs, especially from India, were entering the country.