H-1B rejections hit IT firms hard in FY18

Rising protectionism in the US is leading to an unprecedented number of H-1B denials for IT services firms, with Cognizant getting impacted the most in FY18. According to data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Cognizant saw 4,338 denials in FY18, the highest for any company. Cognizant was followed by Infosys (2,122) and TCS (1,896).

The top five companies cumulatively saw 11,907 H-1B applications getting rejected — 80 per cent of them for extension of visas and 20 per cent for initial visas .

“The increasing protectionist measures imposed by the US administration to safeguard American workers are directly having an adverse impact on Indian IT majors,” Care Ratings said in a report ‘Status of H-1B visas in FY18 (October 1 2017-September 30, 2018).