USCIS ANNUAL REPORT ON FY-2009 H-1B VISAS REVEALS MORE DENIALS

In an annual report presented by USCIS to Congress regarding usage of FY-2009 H-1B visas, full data was unfolded that we all experienced empirically.
According to the report, the total number of H-1B petitions received was down about 15% from the prior year (from 288,764 to 246,647), and approvals were down about 22% (from 276,252 to 214,271). This represents approximately a 50% increase in the rate of denials. Not a big surprise considering how USCIS has hammered all H-1B applications with burdensome and many times against the law RFEs, denials, etc., in the general culture of no. I suspect FY2010 denials will show an even higher percentage than that of FY2009.
According to the report, about half of the approved petitions (48%) were for workers born in India, and about 41% for computer-related positions. No surprises here.
Two thirds of workers whose petitions were approved were between 25 and 34 years old. Again, no surprises, as the H-1B users are mainly young professionals. 41% of approved H-1B petitions were for workers with a bachelor’s degree, 40% had a master’s degree, 13% had a Ph.D. and 6% had a professional degree (such as M.D., J.D., etc.).
The median wage for these workers were $64,000 per year, which is a high wage indicative of professionals in the field. This wage represented a $4,000 increase in the median salary over fiscal year 2008 which shows that the U.S employers are willing to pay more for these workers even in times of economic recession.