H-1B visa: Sharp 10% drop in approvals in FY18

There was a sharp 10% decline in the approval of H-1B visas by the US in the fiscal year 2017-18 which experts attributed to the “aggressive” policies of the Trump administration to clamp down on the use of the work visa program, popular among highly-skilled Indian IT professionals. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 335,000 H-1B visas, which included both new and renewable, in FY18. This was 10% less from 373,400 in the previous fiscal year 2016-17, according to the USCIS’s annual statistical report.

The approval rate of H-1B declined from 93% in 2017 to 85% in 2018. “This administration has aggressively pursued strategies to clamp down on use of the H-1B programme, and these efforts are now showing in the data,” Migration Policy Institute analyst Sarah Pierce was quoted as saying by The Mercury News.