The numbers, visa by visa
USCIS publishes quarterly figures on how many Form I-129 petitions it completes, how many drew a request for evidence, and how many of those were approved. The latest release covers October 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, the first three quarters of fiscal year 2026, and is available in the agency’s immigration and citizenship data library. The two right-hand columns below are calculated from those figures.
| Visa | Completed | Got an RFE | Approved after RFE | Approved, no RFE | Denials that followed an RFE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L-1B | 10,263 | 29.4% | 74.5% | 98.2% | 85.8% |
| L-1A | 18,553 | 25.9% | 71.2% | 98.3% | 85.3% |
| O (O-1A, O-1B, O-2, O-3) | 23,417 | 24.2% | 66.8% | 98.8% | 89.9% |
| P (athletes, entertainers) | 7,203 | 19.9% | 60.5% | 99.2% | 92.0% |
| R-1 (religious workers) | 6,881 | 18.2% | 83.3% | 98.7% | 74.7% |
| TN | 11,349 | 13.0% | 67.7% | 99.0% | 83.1% |
| H-1B | 278,650 | 8.5% | 81.7% | 98.5% | 52.3% |
USCIS reports the O category as a whole, so the O row includes the O-1A, the O-1B for the arts, and the O-2 and O-3 support categories. Every row counts new petitions and extensions together.
What the data says
Without an RFE, almost everything is approved
Across every category in the table, petitions decided without a request for evidence were approved between 98.2% and 99.2% of the time. Whatever the visa, a petition that answers the officer’s questions on the first read is close to certain to succeed.
After an RFE, the odds split by category
After an RFE, outcomes vary widely by category. H-1B and R-1 petitions that drew one were still approved more than 80% of the time. O-category petitions were approved 66.8% of the time after an RFE, P petitions 60.5%, and TN petitions 67.7%. For the O-1, an RFE turns a near-certain approval into roughly a two-in-three outcome.
Most denials begin with an RFE
In the O category, 1,885 of the 2,096 denials, or 89.9%, came after a request for evidence. For both L-1 categories the share was about 85%. The H-1B is the exception: about half its denials came without an RFE first. For the categories most of this firm’s clients use, a denial almost always follows an RFE, which makes the initial filing the best place to win the case.
“An O-1 decided without an RFE was approved 98.8% of the time, against 66.8% for one that drew an RFE, so most of the work belongs in the initial filing.”
Quarter by quarter
The rates have held steady through the fiscal year, with the L-1 categories edging up in the third quarter.
| RFE rate | Q1 (Oct to Dec 2025) | Q2 (Jan to Mar 2026) | Q3 (Apr to Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| L-1B | 29.3% | 28.1% | 30.8% |
| L-1A | 25.5% | 25.0% | 27.1% |
| O | 25.8% | 23.9% | 23.3% |
| TN | 12.8% | 12.7% | 13.5% |
| H-1B | 9.0% | 8.7% | 7.8% |
Why the O-1 and L-1 draw more RFEs
The categories with the highest RFE rates are the ones where eligibility turns on judgment rather than a checklist. An O-1A or O-1B officer has to decide whether evidence meets each regulatory criterion and then whether the record as a whole shows sustained acclaim, under the standards in the USCIS Policy Manual chapter on O-1 beneficiaries. An L-1A officer has to decide whether a role is genuinely managerial or executive, and an L-1B officer whether knowledge is truly specialized. Each of those is a question an officer can reasonably want more evidence on, and an RFE is how they ask.
The H-1B turns on more concrete questions: a qualifying degree, a specialty occupation, a certified labor condition application. Its rate is also pulled down by the large number of routine extensions in the total.
Extensions may draw more RFEs soon
On October 14, 2026, DHS proposed removing deference to prior USCIS approvals when the agency decides extension petitions. Today, an officer reviewing an extension with the same parties and facts starts from the earlier approval. DHS’s own analysis found that the last time deference was lifted, the RFE rate on those petitions rose from 18.9% to 23.4%, and it estimates the proposal would add about 6,044 RFEs a year. Comments close November 13, 2026. The full analysis of the proposal covers what it would change.
How to keep a petition out of the RFE pile
RFEs follow predictable gaps, and most can be closed before filing.
Prove each criterion, then prove the whole
- Claim only the criteria the evidence clearly meets, and say which document meets which criterion
- Give context with every exhibit: why an award is selective, why a publication is major, why a role is critical
- Use support letters that describe specific achievements and their effect on the field, not general praise
- Close with an argument that the record as a whole shows sustained acclaim, the step described in the guide to O-1A final merits
Show the structure, not just the title
- Duty descriptions with a percentage of time for each responsibility, abroad and in the US
- Org charts naming the people who do the hands-on work, with their roles and education
- Ownership documents that trace the full chain between the foreign and US companies
- For the L-1B, a clear account of what makes the knowledge specialized and how it was acquired
If an RFE does arrive, the response matters as much as the original filing, since one in three O-category RFEs ended in denial. The guide to responding to a request for evidence covers how to answer one, and the August 2026 policy letting officers deny without an RFE first is a reminder that an incomplete filing may not get the chance.