A study carried out by American think-tank National Foundation for American Policy has shown that restrictive Trump administration policies have resulted in a spike in denial rates for H-1B petitions. From just six per cent in 2015, the denial rate of H-1B visas has risen to 24 per cent in the third quarter of the current fiscal year.
The study, based on data received from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), also shows that the denial rate is the highest among major Indian IT companies.
For example, the denial rate of H-1B petitions for initial employment for Amazon, Microsoft, Intel and Google in 2015 was just one per cent. In 2019, the same increased to six, eight, seven and three per cent respectively. The denial rate for Apple remained the same at two per cent.
During the same period, the denial rate jumped from four per cent to 41 per cent for Tech Mahindra, from six per cent to 34 per cent for Tata Consultancy Services, from seven per cent to 53 per cent for Wipro and from just two per cent to 45 per cent for Infosys, according to the study.
At least 12 companies that provide professional or IT services to other US companies, including Accenture, Capgemini and others, had denial rates of over 30 per cent through the first three quarters of fiscal 2019. Most of these companies had denial rates between two per cent and seven per cent as recently as in 2015, said the report.
The denial rate for H-1B petitions for continuing employment was also high for Indian IT companies. For Tech Mahindra, it increased from two per cent to 16 per cent, for Wipro it increased from four per cent to 19 per cent, and for Infosys from one per cent to 29 per cent, the study showed.
On the other hand, the denial rates for H-1B petitions for continuing employment among major American companies were low – Amazon (from one per cent to three per cent), Microsoft (remained at two per cent), Intel (from one per cent to three per cent), Apple (remained at one per cent) and for Google, it increased from 0.4 per cent in 2015 to one per cent in 2019.