H-1B RFEs In Biden Administration's Second Year: Will New Policy Changes Increase The RFE Issuance Rate?

One of the key features of the Biden administration's immigration policy in its first year was to reverse many of the Trump administration's efforts to severely restrict the issuances of employment-based non-immigrant visas, especially the H-1B visa. The Trump administration made policy changes and issued interim final rules (IFRs) that would have it made more costly for employers to offer jobs to foreign nationals. For example, it eliminated the practice of prior deference for adjudication of H-1B extension petitions.¹ Cumulatively, the Trump Administration's policy changes had the effect of leading to a sharp uptick in the outright denial rate for initial H-1B petitions that the Biden administration has dramatically reversed (4% in 2021; compared to 13% in 2020; and 21% in 2019).²