Why Employees of Infosys, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra and Other Top Indian IT Companies Denied H-1B Visas Recently?

As a big shock to most of the Indian IT companies, the country's second-largest IT major Infosys saw 59 percent of its H-1B petitions for new employees denied between October and March 2020 quarter. 

According to an Economic Times report, most of the IT services companies had more H-1B visas denied in the second quarter of FY20 when compared to other quarters. As per analysis of USCIS data by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), the denial rates for H-1B visas for initial employment were at 29 percent for the first two quarters of the year. 

In the NFAP report, Infosys’ denial rate was only 2 percent in FY2015, while TCS’ denial rate remained at 15 percent, lowest among the Indian IT services companies. 

Further in the NFAP report, top 25 employers for the first two quarters of FY20, states that the denial rates of H-1B visas continue to remain high under the Trump administration. This will make it difficult for companies to hire people outside the US. 

Looking into other IT companies, Infosys was followed by Cognizant, whose denial rate increased from 8 percent in FY15 to 52 percent in FY20. Whereas companies that had a significant number of their petitions denied include Wipro at 39 percent, Capgemini at 33 percent and Tech Mahindra at 32 percent. 

While in FY2015, their visa denial rate was between 1 percent and 7 percent five years ago. HCL Tech's share increased to 37 percent from 2 percent, ET further reported.

“The highest denial rates continue to be for companies that provide information technology or other business services to American companies. The data indicate USCIS has established a different standard for deciding cases for companies that provide information technology (IT) services,” Stuart Anderson, Executive Director, NFAP, said.

Since the Trump administration took over in 2017, the IT firms, who were the largest beneficiaries of H-1B visa has been affected with the denial rates that spiked for the outsourcing firms compared to their American technology peers. 

However, Indian IT services firms stepped up their localisation efforts, which has currently become close to 60 percent of their workforce in the US.