U.S. Immigration Service Increases Denials For High-Skilled Immigrants

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has increased denials for employment-based immigrants and in key temporary visa categories. Government data show that the Trump administration’s policies have led to a spike in denials, making it less likely that many high-skilled foreign nationals will be able to work in the United States. Economists have found that high-skilled immigration is vital to the U.S. economy in technology, medicine and other sectors.

The new data align with other administration policies designed to block or restrict immigration, including a $100,000 fee on the entry of new H-1B visa holders and a proposed rule that could price many H-1B professionals and employment-based immigrants out of the U.S. labor market by raising prevailing wages. Companies and H-1B employees are also experiencing long waits to renew visas at U.S. consulates because of policy changes.

Immigration Data Show Denials Rising

Examining the latest data from USCIS shows how the Trump administration has tightened immigration policies for even the most highly skilled individuals. “The denial rate for an alien with extraordinary ability (in the employment-based first preference, or EB-1, green card category) nearly doubled from 25.6% to 46.6% between the fourth quarter of FY 2024 and the fourth quarter of FY 2025,” according to a new National Foundation for American Policy analysis.

“The denial rate for national interest waivers (in the employment-based second preference, or EB-2, green card category) rose from 38.8% to 64.3% between the fourth quarter of FY 2024 and the fourth quarter of FY 2025,” reported NFAP.

“The rapid change in national interest waiver and EB-1 adjudication trends is very disconcerting for bona fide applicants,” said Jonathan Grode of Green & Spiegel in an interview. “I’m not sure how you can go from 90% approval in 2022 to less than 50% today without any real justification.”

Efren Hernandez was, until 2025, a supervisory policy analyst at USCIS and is now the founder of EH3 Immigration Consulting. He explains the increase in denials. “While the official standards for EB-1A and national interest waiver cases have not changed, USCIS is approving fewer of these cases because the application of the standards has become more exacting,” he said in an interview. “Adjudicators seem to be demanding sharper, more objective proof of extraordinary ability or national importance, and also challenging the evidence submitted in support of the individual components of these cases.”

Denial rates have also increased in temporary visa categories. O temporary visas are for individuals with extraordinary ability. USCIS data show the denial rate for O visas increased from 5.0% to 7.3% between the fourth quarter of FY 2024 and the fourth quarter of FY 2025. That represents an increase of 46%.

Two other important categories for employers have seen an increase in denials. “The denial rate for L-1A petitions for intracompany transferees of executives or managers rose from 8.0% in the fourth quarter of FY 2024 to 9.6% in the fourth quarter of FY 2025. The denial rate for L-1B petitions for intracompany transferees with specialized knowledge rose from 8.1% in the fourth quarter of FY 2024 to 9.2% in the fourth quarter of FY 2025,” noted NFAP.

Some categories have not experienced an increase in denials. The denial rate for blanket L petitions declined from 1.1% in the fourth quarter of FY 2024 to 0.6% in the fourth quarter of FY 2025. “Certain organizations may establish the required intracompany relationship in advance of filing individual L-1 petitions by filing a blanket petition,” according to USCIS.

Denial rates for H-1B petitions also did not spike through FY 2025, the NFAP analysis notes, with one reason likely being a 2020 legal settlement. That settlement forced USCIS, toward the end of Trump’s first term, to cease administrative practices that led to high denial rates for H-1B petitions. Judges found USCIS’s practices unlawful.

The Immigration Backlog Of Pending Cases Grows

USCIS had a “net backlog” of 6.3 million applications at the end of FY 2025. That represents a rise of 65%, or 2.5 million, between the fourth quarter of FY 2024 and the fourth quarter of FY 2025. A significant portion of that backlog represents Trump administration policy decisions, including ending parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans and terminating Temporary Protected Status for several countries. The cases of those individuals are listed in the USCIS backlog. The net backlog increased in other categories, including for I-129 petitions for temporary workers (by more than 54,000) and I-140 immigrant petitions for alien workers (by 58,400).

USCIS defines the “net backlog” as the “gross backlog minus any customer induced delays (i.e., RFE, intent to deny, etc.) and visa unavailable cases.” Many attorneys, employers and individuals would not agree that an agency RFE, or Request for Evidence, is a “customer induced delay.”

The frontlog of unopened applications at USCIS has increased significantly— from zero at the end of FY 2024 to 247,974 by the end of FY 2025.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, via two memos from USCIS Director Joseph Edlow, is refusing to process cases for individuals from 39 countries subject to two presidential proclamations. Attorneys have challenged the legality of the processing suspension.

The Trump administration’s impact on high-skilled immigration is evident at the end of FY 2025. The increase in denial rates forecasts a worsening immigration landscape for employers, high-skilled immigrants and visa holders in 2026 through 2028.