US Tech Visa Applications Are Being Put Through the Wringer

Since nan end of January, Ryan Helgeson, a Chicago-based immigration attorney, has noticed an different trend: He’s been getting importantly much pushback from US Citizenship and Immigration Services arsenic he files employment visa petitions connected behalf of his foreign-born clients.

Helgeson’s firm, McEntee Law Group, represents tech workers who dream to emigrate aliases stay successful nan US by measurement of visas granted for specialty occupations aliases bonzer abilities. On average, Helgeson’s patient files 50 to 75 visa petitions per month. This goes up to arsenic galore arsenic 90 per period astatine nan tallness of “H-1B season,” erstwhile employers participate a lottery for visas connected behalf of overseas workers, and candidates past record a general petition. During his galore years of practicing law, Helgeson and his squad person occasionally received requests for further evidence, aliases RFE’s, from USCIS, arsenic a portion of nan agency’s process for vetting applicants.

But since Donald Trump took office and began cracking down connected immigration, Helgeson says, location has been “an absolute summation successful nan number and complaint of RFE’s” connected nan visa petitions he has filed. That tracks pinch what 3 different migration attorneys told WIRED. Whether their clients are applying for H-1B visas, O-1 bonzer expertise visas, intracompany visas for foreigners looking to move to a US office, aliases visas circumstantial to traders and investors, USCIS has been seeking an accrued magnitude of accusation from applicants.

This includes much requests for letters of support, certificates of education, and biometric data, migration lawyers show WIRED. Some of nan pushback is based connected “adverse information” astir nan applicant aliases an applicant failing to update their address, lawyers say. But different RFE’s are redundant, requesting accusation that has already been provided. In immoderate cases, attorneys are struggling to find what other USCIS could beryllium seeking.

“The reside of nan requests for grounds has remained nan same, but nan full process is overtly much hostile,” Helgeson says. These requests from USCIS tin double nan magnitude of clip it takes for a visa to beryllium processed, he adds.

It’s besides costly to resubmit visa petitions. Matt Doyle, a British-born tech entrepreneur surviving successful Austin, Texas, and 1 of McEntee Law Group’s clients, precocious had his EB-1 visa exertion denied. Now he’s having to reapply. Doyle will salary different $4,000 to nan authorities to expedite his reapplication, connected apical of nan $20,000 he says he has already spent successful ineligible fees for him and his family. For now, nan rule patient is waiving immoderate further fees.

“I was approved connected 2 retired of nan 3 criteria, and they acknowledged [my company’s] invention and uniqueness, but they didn’t consciousness nan grounds showed broader impact,” Doyle says. The entrepreneur is now soliciting respective further letters of support from customers and colleagues. He’s paying to expedite nan process, he says, successful nan hopes that his visa gets approved earlier his existent hold expires this fall.

“In nan 30-plus years mixed of maine and my ineligible partner practicing migration law, we person seen much denials successful cases for illustration Matt’s wrong nan past fewer weeks than we had cumulatively seen earlier successful our careers,” Helgeson says.