Wall Street Journal (04/09/12) Miriam Jordan

In a development that may signal that the economy is improving,
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service says it has seen a sharp
increase in petitions for H-1B visas this year. USCIS has
received 25,600 petitions for the visas since April 2, almost
twice as many as it received for the entire first month of last
year’s application period. Some 17,400 of the petitions
received in the first week were in the general category of
skilled workers, while 8,200 were in the advanced category, for
workers with an advanced degree. The increase in visa
applications reflects an increase in activity for related
businesses such as technology companies.