A five-day window to submit H-1B visa applications ran out on Monday and company executives predict that the supply of visas will be heavily over-subscribed, in spite of the domestic economic slowdown.

The H-1B visa system was designed to allow top foreign graduates – including architects, engineers and computer programmers – to work in the US for up to three years but increasing demand and restricted capacity have left the system struggling to cope. The cap was set at 65,000 in 1990 and although that number was raised to as much as 195,000 during the dot-com boom it was subsequently allowed to fall back to the original limit.