Trump Administration Increases Scrutiny, RFEs For H-1B Petitions
According to statistics released by U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services, the percentage of H-1B cases with requests
for evidence (RFEs) has greatly increased. In the first quarter of
fiscal year (FY) 2017, the rate of H-1B RFEs was less than 30%. In
the first quarter of FY 2019, that rate skyrocketed to 60%. At the
same time, the percentage of H-1B completions with an RFE that were
approved has fallen, from almost 80% in the first quarter of FY
2017 to about 60% in the first quarter of FY 2019.
Approval rates were much higher for certain large companies;
Apple, Facebook, Google, Intel, and Microsoft reportedly all had
99% approval rates; Amazon and Cisco had a 98% approval rate.
According to reports, a frequent reason for the RFEs was asking
companies to prove that the offered job was in a “specialty
occupation.” Other questions related to valid
employer-employee relationships and specific assignments. Numerous
lawsuits have been filed in federal court challenging recent H-1B
denials.
statistics
An article about several lawsuits is
available
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