That rejected feeling
Respected think tank finds dramatic increase in US visa denials for skilled Indian professionals. Aziz Haniffa reports
Stuart Anderson, executive director, National Foundation for American Policy, says new data culled from the
United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services shows a dramatic increase in the
denial of petitions for both L-1 (intra-com-
pany transfer) and H-1B (temporary work
visa) categories in the past four years for
India-born professionals and researchers
compared to those from other countries.
This, he says, cannot but lead to the per-
ception of a deliberate bias by US authori-
ties, both at the USCIS and American con-
sulates.
The NFAP is a respected non-partisan
public policy organization that focuses on
immigration issues, particularly those that
pertain to professional visa categories.
The NFAP report, Data Reveal High
Denial Rates for L-1 and H-1 Petitions at
USCIS, said such denials harm the compet-
itiveness of US employers and leave
American companies with no option but to
keep more jobs and resources outside the
country.
It said the denial rate for India-born
applicants for new L-1B petitions rose from
2.8 percent in the fiscal year 2008 to 22.5
percent in FY 2009, a substantial increase
that resulted in many employers being
unable to transfer their employees into the
US to work on research projects or to serve
customers.
The report said the USCIS denied more
new L-1B petitions for Indians in FY2009
(1,640) than in the previous nine fiscal years
combined (1,341 denials between FY 2000
and FY 2008).
‘If one considers that in FY 2011 63 per-
cent of all L-1B petitions received a Request
for Evidence and 27 percent were issued a
denial, that means US Citizenship and
Immigration Services adjudicators denied
or delayed between 63 percent to 90 per-
cent of all L-1B petitions in 2011,’ the report
said. ‘USCIS adjudicators have demonstrat-
ed a capacity to keep skilled foreign nation-
als out of the US by significantly increasing
denials, along with often time-consuming
requests for evidence, despite no change in the
law or relevant regulations.’
The report said denial rates for H-1B petitions
increased from 11 percent in 2007 to 29 percent
in 2009, and remained higher than in the past for
H-1Bs at 21 percent in 2010 and 17 percent in
2011.
Anderson, former head of policy and counselor
to the Commissioner of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, said while the denial of L-
1 petitions rose from 2.8 percent in 2008 to 22
percent just a year later, “a comparison during the
same time period if you look at Canada, their denial rate
from L-1 petitions only rose from 2 percent to 2.9 percent.
So we find and hear from companies that they see the prob-
lems centered primarily on cases that are not getting
approved involving people from India.”
Anderson pointed out that this “dramatic increase in the
The numbers
Denial rate for India-
born applicants for new
L-1B (intra-company
transfer) petitions rose
from 2.8 percent in fis-
cal year 2008 to 22.5
percent in FY2009.
The number of L-1
visas issued at US con-
sulates in India de-
clined by 28 percent
from 2010 to 2011.
During the same
period, such visas
issued in the rest of the
world rose by 15 per-
cent.
Denial rates for H-1B
(temporary work visa)
petitions increased
from 11 percent in 2007
to 29 percent in 2009,
and remained higher
than in the past for H-
1Bs at 21 percent in
2010 and 17 percent in
2011.
‘That’s one of the concerns here — that you get a lack of
reliability in terms of the established long-term business
ties that encourage employers to find just other ways to
deal with these things. Which is, quite frankly, not doing
as much business in the United States’
Stuart Anderson
Executive director
National Foundation for American Policy
denial rate and request for evidence for employer petitions
has taken place without any change in the law or regula-
tions. It raises questions about the training, supervision
and procedures of the career bureaucracy that adjudicates
petitions. It also raises questions about the US govern-
ment’s commitment to maintaining a stable business cli-
mate for companies competing in the global
economy.”
