Rising H-1B Denial Rates: The Companies Most Affected
Drawing on data compiled by the National Foundation for American Policy, this article describes the rise in H-1B denial rates for both new employees and renewals since Trump took office, notes that FY2020 figures cover only through Q2 and that the full-year rate may decline, and lists the IT and consulting firms most affected, including Infosys, whose denial rate rose from 2% in 2015 to 59% so far in FY2020.
According to data compiled and released by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) in August [link], since Trump took office, the denial rate for H-1B visas has risen significantly for both new employees and renewals. The chart below was created by the author based on NFAP data. It should be noted that fiscal year 2020 has not yet ended, and the current data only covers through FY 2020 Q2. Based on previous years, the denial rate in Q1/Q2 of the most recent complete fiscal year, FY 2019, may be relatively high, while Q3/Q4 may be much lower; therefore, after FY 2020 ends, the full-year denial rate may decline.
The hardest-hit companies are mainly IT firms, and several Indian companies appear on the list. Infosys's H-1B denial rate was only 2% in 2015, but for fiscal year 2020 to date it has reached 59%. Other technology/consulting companies that have been significantly affected include Accenture, Deloitte, EY, Uber, PwC, Oracle, IBM, Amazon, Google, Cisco, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Qualcomm, and others.
