A recent study on H-1B denials and requests for evidence (RFEs) by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) finds that H-1B denials and RFEs increased significantly in the fourth quarter of FY 2017, likely due to new Trump administration policies, according to data obtained from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The proportion of H-1B petitions denied for foreign-born professionals increased by 41% from the third to the fourth quarter of FY 2017, rising from a denial rate of 15.9% in the third quarter to 22.4% in the fourth quarter. The number of RFEs in the fourth quarter of FY 2017 almost equaled the total number issued by USCIS adjudicators for the first three quarters of FY 2017 combined (63,184 versus 63,599). Failure to comply with an adjudicator’s RFE will result in the denial of an application. As a percentage of completed cases, the RFE rate was approximately 69% in the fourth quarter compared to 23% in the third quarter of FY 2017, the study found.
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