WASHINGTON - The U.S. today began accepting H-1B visa applications for the next fiscal year, with heavy demand expected. The visas will likely all be claimed by end of this week, and a major share of the H-1B visas will go to firms that use visa holders to displace U.S. workers.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, provided to Computerworld, is very clear about who are the largest users of H-1B visas: Offshore outsourcing firms.

The U.S. makes 65,000 H-1B visas available each fiscal year under its base cap, with an additional 20,000 set aside for advanced degree graduates of U.S. universities. On April 1 each year, it accepts visa petitions for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Top H-1b visa approvals in FY 2013

Applicant Visas INFOSYS 6298 TATA 6258 COGNIZANT 5186 ACCENTURE 3346 WIPRO 2644 HCL AMERICA 1766 IBM 1624 MAHINDRA GROUP 1589 LARSEN & TOUBRO 1580 DELOITTE 1491 IGATE 1157 MICROSOFT 1048 SYNTEL 1041 QUALCOMM 909 AMAZON 881 INTEL 772 GOOGLE INC 753 MPHASIS 556 CAPGEMINI 500 ORACLE 475 UST 475 PRICEWATERCOOPERS 449 CISCO SYSTEMS 379 ERNST & YOUNG 373 NTT DATA 350 FACEBOOK 337 MINDTREE LTD 302 ZENSAR TECHNOLOGIES 288 APPLE INC 262 POLARIS SOFTWARE LAB 262 HEXAWARE TECHNOLOGIES INC 250 JP MORGAN CHASE & CO 213 GOLDMAN SACHS & CO 185 BIRLASOFT INC 159 DELL MARKETING LLP 157 NIIT TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED 152 HEADSTRONG SERVICES LLC 144 THE MATHWORKS INC 144 INFOTECH ENTERPRISES AMERICA INC 142 CUMMINS INC 141 PERSISTENT SYSTEMS INC 140 SMARTPLAY INC 139 EXPERIS US INC 138 KPMG LLP 133 HITACHI CONSULTING CORPORATION 132 EBAY INC 128 GLOBALFOUNDRIES U S INC 124 NETAPP INC 123 HEWLETT-PACKARD 117 FUJITSU AMERICA INC 115 ITC INFOTECH (USA) INC 115 YAHOO INC 111 UNIV OF MICHIGAN 110 VMWARE INC 110 BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE 107 CERNER CORP 106 BANK OF AMERICA N A 103 CERNER CORPORATION 101 EMC CORPORATION 98 MU SIGMA INC 97 AGILITY TECHNOLOGIES LLC 96 JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV 96 BLOOMBERG LP 92 CSC COVANSYS CORPORATION 92 MARVELL SEMICONDUCTOR INC 90 MORGAN STANLEY 90 MAYO CLINIC 88 RELIABLE SOFTWARE RESOURCES INC 87 NESS USA INC 86 SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORP 86 SYSTIME COMPUTER CORPORATION 86 SAMSUNG TELECOMMUNICATIONS AMERICA 85 CIBER INC 84 COLLABERA INC PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS 84 YASH & LUJAN CONSULTING INC 84 HCL GLOBAL SYSTEMS INC 82 CGI TECHNOLOGIES AND SOLUTIONS INC 81 CALSOFT LABS INC 80 BUSINESS INTELLI SOLUTIONS INC 79 GRANDISON MANAGEMENT INC 78 CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION 77 RS SOFTWARE INDIA LTD 77 UNIV OF MINNESOTA 77 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 77 NVIDIA CORPORATION 76 ERICSSON INC 75 SYNECHRON INC 75 FIDELITY INVESTMENTS 73 JUNIPER NETWORKS INC 73 YASH TECHNOLOGIES INC 73 NVIDIA CORP 72 KPIT INFOSYSTEMS INC 71 MCKINSEY & COMPANY INC U S 71 NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 71 UNIV OF PENNSYLVANIA 71 COLUMBIA UNIV 70 CSC COVANSYS CORP 70 MERRILL LYNCH 70 COMPETENT SYSTEMS INC 69 HEALTH CAROUSEL II LLC 68

Source: Computerworld analysis of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service data

The IT services firms among the top 20 H-1B users accounted for a little more than 50% of the annual base visa cap of 65,000. This is for initial visas approved in the 2013 fiscal year, not renewals. This percentage excludes some other top 20 H-1B users, such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, Google and Oracle. (See list chart)

The two largest H-1B users are Indian-based, Infosys, with 6,298 visas, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), with 6,258. In third place is Cognizant, which is based in New Jersey, but runs large offshore centers. These firms have long dominated the top H-1B list spots.

These numbers represent only the visas approved last year. The H-1B is a six-year visa, and IT services firms have consistently been the largest visa users year after year. (Note: The list also includes H-1B users exempt from the cap, which includes universities and research institutions.)

IT service firms use H-1B workers in offshore outsourcing contracts. IT workers affected by offshoring decision will typically train their replacements as a condition of severance. This has been the situation, for instance, at Northeast Utilities in Connecticut, which late last year announced plans to outsource some its IT work to Infosys and TCS and cut around 200 IT workers.

"The offshore outsourcing firms are once again getting the majority of the visas," said Ron Hira, a public policy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. "The program continues to promote the offshoring of high-wage American jobs."

The tech industry, through lobbying organizations such as Compete America, argues that there is a skills shortage in the U.S., which justifies the need for H-1B visas. The claim of a skills shortage is in dispute, however.

Paul Krugman, a New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist, argued in a column Monday that the idea of a skills gap is something "that should have been killed by the evidence, but refuses to die."

The IT offshore industry is worried about the prospects of immigration reforms that may restrict access to H-1B visas. These firms have been saying that they are increasing their hiring of U.S. workers, permanent residents or U.S citizens.

Cognizant, in a statement, said it "is committed to attracting and retaining the top talent in the United States and around the world. We create and support thousands of American jobs, including 7,000 U.S. workers hired locally over the past two years and a commitment to hire at least 10,000 more locally over the next three years. Cognizant has a robust campus recruitment process at U.S. colleges and universities, leveraging our proximity to STEM education hubs."

But Cognizant does not disclose data to support its U.S. hiring claims, such as the percent of its U.S. workforce on visas.