The USCIS recently issued its annual statistics report,
confirming a continuing downward trend in approvals for both the
H-1B and L-1 categories. For the fifth consecutive year, the
approval rate for initial H-1B petitions across all industries have
declined, from 95.7% in 2015 to 84.8% in 2019; a decline of 11
percentage points. H-1B RFE issuances have also jumped up from a
low or 20.8% in 2016 to nearly double that (40.2%) in 2019.
Post-RFE approvals have rebounded slightly from their 2018 rate of
62.4% to 65.4% in 2019. Nevertheless, this is still far below their
rates for FY 2015 (82.2%) and FY 2016 (78.9%).
L-1 adjudication trends across all industries are in some cases
more dramatic. The approval rate for initial L-1 petitions dropped
from a five-year high of 85% in 2016 to 71.9% in 2019, a decline of
over 13 percentage points. RFE issuance rates increased from 32.1%
in 2016 to 54.3% in 2019. Rates in post-RFE L-1 approvals have
declined, but not as sharply as
