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.

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