US Citizenship and Immigration Services reported the number of petitions for H-1B visas, used to bring in highly skilled temporary workers such as IT professionals, fell this year to 190,098, down from the 199,000 received last year and down from a peak of 236,000 received in 2016. However, the number of petitions this year still exceeded the annual cap of 85,000 on available visas within the first week petitions were accepted for the sixth year in a row.

Mark Roberts, CEO of the TechServe Alliance, previously had forecast a drop in H-1B visas this year as staffing firms and other companies that place workers at third-party worksites have been targeted by USCIS. Earlier this year, the USCIS released a memo that got tough on such companies. And Roberts said the USCIS appears to be using the adjudication process rather than the legislative or regulatory process to target staffing firms, raising concerns the staffing industry business model is being singled out for discrimination.