I asked the PHI HR representative about the whole Visa issue at the Heli Expo this year. It seems that the US Immigration system requires them to count every single application they receive from US applicants whether or not they are actually qualified by in any way to fill the relevant vacancy.
As you can imagine she told me that they get literally thousands of applications from wannabes and as a aconsequence the US authroities do not believe there is a shortage of US citizens available to fill those positions.
They have been trying to go down this route for over five years now each time to no avail.
Unfortunately!