It's hard to come by rigorous numbers. But RFE's (request for evidence) are now the routine (approx 70% of cases) in all immigration cases. I haven't even heard of an acquaintance having their immigration (H1B, OPT, L1, permanent residency) being approved without an RFE in recent times. RFE's used to be the exception rather (where the lawyer/applicant genuinely made a mistake) than the norm. Now it's the other way round. They find a minor technicality to issue an RFE.
Yes, but what about Indians in particular? I don't think it would be that hard to make a FOI request for the particular stats about that, so I'd like to know what led ramraj07 to believe that Indians are specifically targeted by USCIS, and specifically during the Trump administration. Presumably you could see that as a sharp line, marking a policy change, in the number of requests for evidence (your measurement) particularly for Indian applicants.
To me it seems reasonable that they determine their own criteria for triggering requests for evidence, but I've not heard about a particular policy or pattern for targeting Indian applicants.
I'm curious because similar claims have been made here in Canada as of recent; but it's hard to tell since we have a quite strict and inquisitive immigration system to begin with.
Late to reply, but there ARE numbers - need to find the timestamp but this lawyers talk shows the fraction of RFEs is significantly higher for Indian applicants in this lecture - https://youtu.be/i8nljUVzOiw
L. Francis Cissna was tremendously good at quietly making the legal system as hostile to immigrants as possible while technically staying within the confines of the law.
Trump likes showmanship over substance, though, so he's out. Guessing the new guy will keep the legal system slowdowns in place while upping the fireworks.
