H-1B visa rejection rates rise sharply — 30% of Cognizant, Capgemini, Accenture, Wipro and Infosys applications denied

• The Indian IT companies — Cognizant, Capgemini, Accenture, Wipro and Infosys — faced over 30% visa rejections during the first three quarters of 2020 fiscal, shows a survey by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP).
  
• With most of its workforce in India, Cognizant witnessed maximum denial rate at 60%.
• NFAP reported a fourfold increase in the US visa rejections as compared to 2015 fiscal — at 24%.

Under the Trump administration, increasing rejection rates for H1-B visas is throwing up hurdles, especially for the IT majors. The Indian IT companies — Cognizant, Capgemini, Accenture, Wipro and Infosys — faced over 30% visa rejections during the first three quarters of 2020 fiscal, shows a survey by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP).

Cognizant witnessed maximum denial rate at 60%. In 2018, Cognizant faced nearly 3,548 rejections for work visas extension, which is so far the highest for any company hiring foreign employees.

“The denial rates for H-1B petitions have increased because USCIS has changed the standards for approval without new regulations or Congress passing a new law,” Stuart Anderson, executive director of NFAP told ET.

The study data is in contrast with the data by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which said that the US approved more H1-B visas this year — both entry level and work visa extensions. It said that it extended over 389,000 visas in 2019 fiscal — higher than 335,000 visas approved last year.

NFAP data says that US visa rejections grew from 6% in 2015 to 24% in 2019.

Indian IT employees account for over 70% of the H1-B visas. Adding to this, the US also announced that it will prefer professionals with a US master's degree when it comes to extending visas.

Last year, Deloitte Consulting and Apple received the most number of H1-B visas, while only HCL from India made it to the top 10 list with a total of 5,085 certifications in the US, according to data with the US Department of Labour.

H1-B work visas are initially provided for three years — but can be extended for a similar term later.

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