I said this in the past, and I’ll say it again: I love Statistics. I love it… just as long as I can avoid it. Thankfully, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification crunched the numbers and presented us with selected statistics for the H-1B Specialty Occupation Labor Condition Program (for Q1 of FY2019) and here are my observations.
The Office issued 85242 determinations, of which 1475 were denied. All were processed timely and they certified 175,189 H-1B positions in total!
Notably, the numbers have shifted tremendously since FY2016. Computer Systems Analyst is no longer the most certified occupation. Computer Systems Analyst positions went from 62,780 to 16,616 over the course of 3 years. This is in line with our suggestions from 2016 till date, that the Computer Systems Analyst position is still a viable (as seen, it is number 2) category to file an H-1B, however the number of forthcoming RFEs will deter most petitioners. Here’s what we said in 2016 and it still holds true:
“My colleagues in the industry also suggest that California Service Center puts Computer Systems Analysts under the microscope. Our recommendation is to make sure your job duties clearly articulate that it is a specialty occupation”
Just because Application Software Developer has become the top occupation, it does not guarantee USCIS will approve every such position. Perhaps one can also argue that the top occupation always brings the most scrutiny.
Till next time! Stay tuned and stay warm.