What is the H1B Employer Data Hub?

The H1B visa program is a popular visa option that allows foreign nationals who are highly skilled in a specific field to provide their services to American employers. Under the Trump administration, there has, however, been increased pressure to ensure foreign nationals don’t take the place and jobs of American workers in the American job market. This is part of a broader attempt by the Trump administration to protect American employees’ economic interests. 

As a result, various policies have been put in place to ensure transparency around the H1B visa program, including the creation of an H1B Employer Data Hub. 

Although the H1B Employer Data Hub’s primary purpose is to provide transparency around employers petitioning for H1B workers, it is also a database that could be useful for foreign nationals looking to work in the U.S. 

Below we take a look at the H1B Employer Data Hub in more detail. 

What is the H1B Employer Data Hub? 

The H1B Employer Data Hub is a public database that allows anyone to search H1B petition data. The H1B visa program allows American employers to temporarily employ foreign nationals in jobs that require theoretical and practical application of their specialized knowledge. It requires a bachelor’s degree or higher education in their specific field of specialty (or its equivalent). The purpose of the H1B visa is to allow American employers to employ the best workers in a field and therefore has strict eligibility requirements. 

You can search for data in the H1B Employer Data Hub by employer, industry, and year for the Fiscal Years 2009 to quarter 2 of 2020. 

It’s not only the approval and denial rates in the H1B Employer Data Hub that are useful to H1B employers. The H1B Employer Data Hub can also be used to search for detailed information about companies in the United States that have filed H1B petitions on behalf of foreign nationals. 

You can use this information strategically as a free resource to search for H1B employers, jobs, or internships in the United States. 

What Data is Available on the H1B Employer Data Hub?

You can get almost any H1B statistics on the H1B Employer Data Hub. The data is, however, focused on information about employers who have submitted H1B petitions on behalf of nonimmigrant workers.

This includes statistics about first decisions on:

• H1B approvals and denials for initial H1B filings 
• H1B approvals and denials for continuing filings
• H1B extensions
• H1B employers
• H1B petition amendments. 

Unfortunately, the H1B Employer Data Hub does not include statistics about any pending H1B cases, H1B case appeals, or H1B petition revocations. As a result, the statistics available on the H1B Employer Data Hub does not fully show the final numbers. But it still sheds meaningful light on United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicatory trends and American employers using the H1B program. 

Note, the H1B Employer Data Hub also does not contain any details about individual H1B cases. 

You can search the H1B Employer Data Hub statistics by

• employer name
• the fiscal year of the case completion
• the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code
• city
• state, or 
• zip code.

You can even search for a combination of these. The breakdown according to NAICS codes provides insights into industry trends. You can also view approval and denial rates per employer. The H1B Employer Data Hub data is even made available in sets sorted according to fiscal years. 

The USCIS will be updating the hub every quarter and will also release relevant data annually.

Employers are identified by the last four digits of their tax identification numbers. You can download the data you search on the H1B Employer Data Hub in .csv format. 

The data provided on the H1B Employer Data Hub is based on the Form I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker filed at the USCIS when an H1B employer petitions for an H1B visa. 

With the new data that is made available, the public can more accurately calculate H1B approval and denial rates and review employers that submitted H1B visa petitions. This is valuable, especially under the Trump administration, where new adjudicative policies have resulted in many obstacles for petitioners trying to secure immigration benefits. In fact, if you review the numbers, it is evident that denial rates are increasing. 

Why Did USCIS Release this Data? 

The USCIS introduced the H1B Employer Data Hub on 1 April 2019 as part of its public disclosure initiatives. One of the H1B Employer Data Hub’s main purposes is to provide more transparency in employment-based visa programs. This is all part of the Buy American, Hire American Executive Order made by President Trump. 

The purpose of the Buy American, Hire American Executive Order is to create higher wages and employment rates for U.S. workers and protect their economic interests. This is done by strictly enforcing U.S. immigration laws. This executive order also requires the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies such as the USCIS to promote policies to ensure H1B visas are only awarded to the most skilled beneficiaries. 

By creating the H1B Employer Data Hub, the USCIS creates transparency around the hiring practices of employers who petition for H1B workers. 

What Does the New Data Mean for Employers?

The USCIS has made some general H1B petitioner data available to the public in the last few years. The new H1B Employer Data Hub, however, expands the amount of data that is available on H1B petitions. It also expands on the type of H1B information that is available to the public. It has more detailed information about different case outcomes and also provides much greater functionality to search through the data. 

Keep in mind, however, the USCIS collects data manually. So, there may be errors, inaccuracies, or even omissions in the datasets. 

The data that is available on the H1B Employer Data Hub can help employers more accurately gauge H1B visa trends and approval and denial rates. It could also help job seekers connect with the right H1B employer.

Conclusion

Although it isn’t perfect yet, the H1B Employer Data Hub is certainly a step forward in creating transparency around H1B employer practices and making more data available to the public. 

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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