USCIS sought more info in 60% of H-1B cases

MUMBAI: Data released recently by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reflects a greater scrutiny of H-1B applications, with an increase in requests for evidence (RFEs).

Data for the first quarter of US fiscal 2019 (that is, three months ended December 2018) shows that 60% of all completed H-1B cases had been issued RFEs. This is significant, considering that only 38% of all completed H-1B applications received RFEs during fiscal 2018 (12-month period ended September 30, 2018) and 21% in the previous fiscal.

By issuing an RFE, the agency seeks additional evidence before it adjudicates an H-1B application. If the evidence submitted, say to prove that the job is a speciality occupation, does not satisfy USCIS officials, the application is rejected. RFEs cast an additional burden on sponsoring companies, in terms of time and cost.

In numerical terms, nearly 60,000-odd RFEs were sent during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 as opposed to 1.50 lakh during fiscal 2018 and 86,000 odd in fiscal 2017.

The IT sector dominated the top 30 employers that had sponsored H-1B applications for both 'initial' (new applications) and 'continued approvals' (visa extensions). Most impacted by the additional scrutiny were IT consultancy companies (including those headquartered in India), which saw a higher denial rate, especially for 'initial' H-1B applications. The win-rate for continued visas was comparatively better.

The denial rates for initial visa applications for Capgemini was 80%. It was 61% for Cognizant, which was the top employer. It ranged between 20% and 40% for firms headquartered India. US headquartered non-consultancy firms such as Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Facebook and Apple, saw a denial rate of only around 1% for new visa applications. Total approval rate for these US firms (including for continued employment) was 98-99%.

USCIS denied 54% of the initial H-1B petitions for Infosys while for Mindtree the denial rate was 40%. It was 23% for Wipro and the L&T group combined. TCS, the second largest employer of H-1B workers, fared better with a denial rate of 22%.

The top three reasons for denials of H-1B applications, according to USCIS, are inability by the sponsoring employer to establish that the position is a speciality occupation, inability to substantiate a valid employer-employee relationship and lack of evidence of specific assignment at third party sites for the entire visa duration requested.