Three Indian IT companies among top 5 recipients of H-1B Visas

Three Indian IT services companies were among the top five recipients of H-1B visas

A study of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data by the National Foundation of American Policy, a non-profit public policy organization, found that Amazon received the highest number of H-1B visas for the second year in a row, followed by Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant.

“USCIS, a non-profit public policy organization, found that Amazon received the highest number of H-1B visas for the second year in a row, followed by Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant.

Three Indian IT services companies were among the top five recipients of H-1B visas in FY2021, at a time when overall denial rates dropped drastically across companies.

A study of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data by the National Foundation of American Policy, a non-profit public policy organization, found that Amazon received the highest number of H-1B visas for the second year in a row, followed by Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant. The denial rates for these companies too were significantly lower, averaging at 1-5% as against the last few years when it was over 20% for IT services firms.

If the new bill is approved, it would put into place a supplementary $500 charge on each H-1B visa petition filed by a company, to send their employees to the US branch, on-site.

The denial rates across companies were also more uniform as against the last few years when they were much higher for Indian services companies as compared to US tech firms such as Google and Microsoft.

The number of approved visas was likely to be inflated because of processing issues and litigation, which had resulted in petitions filed in FY20 being adjudicated on in FY21. There were approximately 18,000 more approved petitions in FY21 compared to FY20, possibly due to USCIS processing issues caused by the pandemic and increased denials in 2020, said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy.

The denial rate for H-1B visas for continuing employment was 2% in FY21, much lower than 12% denial rate in FY18 and FY19 and the lowest since data on H-1B denial rates became available, said the study.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/work/three-indian-it-cos-among-top-5-recipients-of-h-1b-visas-in-fy21/articleshow/88884587.cms