Fourth of fresh H-1B applications through the third quarter of this year (from October to June) have been rejected by the Donald Trump-led US administration, a US body said. According to an analysis of H-1B data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by the National Foundation for American Policy, the rejection rate with this has jumped three times in the current year, as compared to 2015.
“The denial rates for H-1B petitions have increased because USCIS has changed the standards for approval without new regulations or Congress passing a new law,” Stuart Anderson, executive director of NFAP was quoted by Economic Times as saying.
“The denial rate for initial employment, primarily for new employees, has increased for nearly all leading companies but its clear USCIS adjudicators have singled out information technology services companies for the most restrictive policies,” Anderson said.
The Trump administration has plans to rescind an Obama era rule that allowed spouses of H-1B work permit holders to work in the US.
Indian nationals, the majority of them qualified women, have been the primary beneficiaries of the H-4 EAD, receiving over 90 per cent of the 120,000 visas issued since 2015.
Earlier in June this year, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had informed the Parliament that Indians have received between 67% to 72% of the total H-1B visas issued by the US in the last five fiscal years and that no comprehensive changes have been made to the U.S. H-1B visa program so far.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved fewer intracompany transfer visas in its financial year 2019, with analysts attributing it mostly to improper documentation by applicants.
The number of approved L-1A and L-1B visas stood at 71.9 per cent in FY19, compared to 77.8 per cent in FY18, according to the data by the visa approving authority whose fiscal year runs from October to September of the following year.
Despite providing additional documents, the number of visas that have been approved is lower than in the past.
Indians account for nearly 70 per cent of all H-1B permit holders as global technology companies rely on such talent to work onsite in the United States.
During the fiscal year 2015, the denial rates for initial H-1B petitions or fresh applications stood at around 6 per cent.
In 2018, the top six Indian firms got just 16% or 2145 H-1B work permits, less than the 2399 visas that Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer secured for its employees.
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