USCIS Data Shows Severe Increase in RFEs and Denials

On July 25, 2018, the nonpartisan National Foundation for American Policy ("NFAP") published a report that confirms what business immigration attorneys have experienced for more than a year: USCIS' issuance of Requests for Evidence ("RFE"), and denials for H-1B Petitions have increased significantly under the current administration. Indeed, while more blatant measures such as ongoing family separation and the travel ban rightly continue to grab headlines and provoke outrage, the NFAP's report serves as another example of the Trump Administration's subtler, and highly effective, efforts to drive down legal immigration to the United States.

According to the report, USCIS' increase in RFEs and denials with respect to H-1B filings did not begin effective January 21, 2017, likely due to the Administration needing time to settle-in and establish new policies for adjudication - such as the President's Buy America, Hire American Executive Order from April 2017. However, by the end of Fiscal Year 2017 (July 1, 2017 - September 30, 2017), the RFE rate skyrocketed to 69% of all H-1B Petitions submitted, with more than 1 in 5 being denied. By comparison, only 17% of H-1B Petitions were subjected to RFEs during President Obama's last months in office. In other words, within nine months of taking office, the H-1B RFE issuance rates increased by more than 400%.

H-1B Petitions submitted on behalf of Indian Nationals received even greater scrutiny during this period. According to the report, Q4 of FY2017 saw USCIS issue RFEs for more than 72% of the H-1B Petitions with Indian National beneficiaries, as opposed to approximately 61% of Petitions filed on behalf of individuals from other countries. The denial rate for Indian Nationals (23.6%) also exceeded that for all others (19.6%). USCIS also applied extra scrutiny on L-1 and O-1 Petitions submitted on behalf of Indian Nationals. Of particular note, nearly 80% of all O-1 Petitions submitted on behalf Indian Nationals during Q4 FY2017 were subjected to an RFE.

While noteworthy, the trends affecting L-1 and O-1 adjudications impact a much smaller subset of nonimmigrants than H-1B Petitions. Approximately 37,000 L-1 and O-1 Petitions were filed with USCIS in FY2017. On the other hand, USCIS received more than 404,000 H-1B Petitions between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017...