By Miriam Jordan 

U.S. employers are expected to apply in the coming days for far more visas than are available for foreign workers in fields such as science, engineering and computer programming, likely prompting a government lottery for the prized visas.

Companies each year can sponsor a total of 65,000 foreigners with at least a bachelor's degree for a so-called H-1B visa. The program allocates an additional 20,000 visas each year to foreign nationals with advanced degrees from U.S. universities.

Government and company officials expect employers within days to exhaust the quota for this year's season, which opened Wednesday for jobs starting in October or later. If that occurs, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that runs the program, will randomly select applications by lottery.

"USCIS will reject all unselected petitions that are subject to the cap as well as any petitions received after the cap has closed," the agency said in a statement.

During the recession, thousands of H-1B spots went unfilled until later in the season. Demand for the program has surged in the past few years as companies accelerate hiring amid the economic recovery.

Last year, 85,000 out of the 172,500 H-1B applications were selected in the lottery. At least one third of applications not chosen are likely to reapply this year, experts predict.

"For H-1Bs this year, it's going to be more of the same and worse," said Angelo Paparelli, an immigration attorney who represents large businesses that use the program. "The chances of being selected are reduced further because demand has so increased."

Companies apply for an H-1B with a specific job candidate in mind, a process that typically involves immigration attorneys and a cost of several thousand dollars per petition. The visas are initially approved for three years and can be extended for a total of six. Additional extensions are possible if, for example, a year has passed since a company sponsored an employee for U.S. legal permanent residency. The visas are also sought for noncomputer fields, such as architecture

Critics of the program say it displaces U.S. workers by enabling companies to hire foreigners who are paid lower wages. They also say H-1Bs are issued to companies, particularly from India, which send workers to the U.S. to acquire skills and then move them back overseas, a practice that essentially promotes outsourcing of American jobs.

Backers, especially Silicon Valley startups and tech companies, have been lobbying to expand the program, which they say is vital to filling jobs. A proposal in 2013 to raise the H-1B cap to 110,000 from 65,000 didn't materialize, as Congress failed to agree on an overhaul of the nation's immigration system.

"The tech sector is once again asking Congress to raise this arbitrary and outdated cap on highly skilled individuals so that we can tap the talent we need to continue our country's innovation and progress," said Dean Garfield, president of the Information Technology Industry Council, an advocacy organization representing Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., among others.

With gross-domestic-product growth this year forecast to surpass last year's 2.5%, U.S. businesses are likely to continue boosting investment and, thus, seeking skilled workers.

International students--a record 1.1 million are in the U.S.--who graduate this year or whose postgraduation practical training visas are due to expire, also boost the numbers of H-1B applicants.

Write to Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordan@wsj.com

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