According to reports, many H-1B petitions for highly skilled and qualified workers were denied over the four years of the Trump administration, often for reasons courts have deemed illegal. H-1B visa denials grew to high rates under the Trump administration—roughly one out of every four for initial employment in fiscal year (FY) 2018 were denied, for example. H-1B denials have since tumbled back to pre-Trump levels (e.g., 7.1% through the first two quarters of FY 2021), which is nice, but not cause for much celebration. The annual H-1B cap remains far below what our economy needs. If denial rates were to include the number of H-1B registrations that don’t succeed simply because they exceed the numerical cap, they’d be much higher. First, some facts: H-1B visas represent only a small fraction of the U.S. workforce, about 0.05%. The annual limit includes 65,000 cap-subject visas and 20,000 cap-exempt for those with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. university. Most are technology and computer related. The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), which analyzed H-1B denial rates, said the more than 1 million job vacancy postings in computer occupations in the United States represent “nearly 20 times more” such vacancies […]
