February 24, 2012

New Report Reflects Incredibly High Denial Rates for L-1 and H-1B Petitions at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

The National Foundation for American Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to public policy research on trade, immigration, education, and other issues of national importance, released findings containing their analysis of USCIS data, including:

• Requests for Evidence (RFEs) rose significantly for L-1B specialized knowledge petitions from 2% in FY 2004 to 63% in FY 2011. Denial rates for L-1B petitions rose from 7% in FY 2007 to 27% in FY 2011.
  
• RFEs increased for L-1A manager/executive petitions from 24% in FY 2007 to 51% in FY 2011. Denial rates for L-1A petitions increased from 8% in FY 2007 to 14% in FY 2011.
  
• RFEs also increased for H-1B petitions from 18% in FY 2007 to a high of 35% in FY 2009, then back to 25% in FY 2011. Denial rates for H-1B petitions increased from 11% in FY 2007 to 17% in FY 2011.
  
• RFE rates for O-1A Alien of Extraordinary Ability petitions increased from 13% in FY 2007, more than doubled to 28% in FY 2009, then back to 27% in FY 2011. Denial rates for O-1A petitions increased from 4% in FY 2008 to 8% in FY 2011.

Please refer to the February 2012 NFAP Policy Brief for a complete breakdown in analysis by petition type, year and country-specific data. http://www.nfap.com/ 

This significant increase in denial and RFE rates at USCIS has made it particularly challenging for employers to transfer skilled employees to the U.S. Accordingly, employers should anticipate more scrutiny and exercise caution when filing petitions. Please contact your GT attorney to discuss additional measures that can be taken at the time of filing in an effort to circumvent an RFE or denial.