Even as the US gears up to open its H-1B application counters on Friday, many in the industry foresee only �need-based' filing by Indian tech employers, and that too spread over many months. Companies such as MindTree feel that the demand for H-1B visas remains low due to the sensitive political environment on outsourcing (in the US) as also increased visa costs.

Industry body Nasscom expects the H-1B pool to last till December at least, broadly in line with the pattern seen over the last two years. For the record, the cap for fiscal 2011 was reached only in January-end this year, ten months after the US first started accepting applications for the year. While the numerical limit on H-1B visa is 65,000, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of those with US masters' degree or higher, are exempt from the fiscal cap.