Sheila Danzig

If an RFE arrives instead of approval, that means your H-1B petition did not make the clear case that they job, the employer, and the beneficiary met eligibility requirements.  Someone dropped the ball.  The key to answering this RFE is to find out who it was – not to place blame, but to get the visa approved.

Sometimes the one that dropped the ball is USCIS.  Over the past better part of a decade, they have been a wild card when it comes to approval trends.  They shirked their own specialty occupation eligibility requirement by adjudicating usually as always when it comes to minimum educational requirements, effectively making the exception the norm and causing all kinds of problems.  They assume level one wages implies an entry level position.  They started only accepting educational degrees earned in the exact major of the H-1b job rather than in a related field.  They started requiring a complete itinerary of the work to be performed by the H-1B employee for the duration of the visa, which blindsided H-1B beneficiaries employed as consultants.  Maybe the adjudicator was having a bad day or in a rush to get home.  All of these factors could contribute to your RFE.  The bad news is, if USCIS is to blame, it’s still on you to fix it.

Sometimes the RFE was triggered because answers, name spellings, and dates were not consistent across all documents.  Inconsistencies trigger red flags that lead to RFEs that you now have to answer.  Whoever proofreads the petition needs to pay extra close attention to this detail in the RFE response.

Sometimes it’s the employer’s fault.  Did they provide enough evidence and documentation as to their economic viability?   Did they provide evidence of past hiring practices and a detailed job description to show the occupation is specialized?  Did they clearly show their ability to control the employee’s work even at third-party worksites and show that the H-1B employee has a full work itinerary for the duration of the H-1B visa?  All of these factors are essential for visa approval.

Sometimes it’s the employee’s fault.  It is not uncommon for an H-1B beneficiary to be misleading about the academic value of their degree, either on purpose or by accident.  For example, different degrees have the same title in different countries while the same degree can have a completely different title somewhere else.

Sometimes it’s the credential evaluator or the expert who wrote the opinion letter’s fault.  The evaluation must be written uniquely taking the education, the job, the visa, and USCIS approval trends into account.  This will often require a progressive work experience conversion written by a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience.  A cookie cutter evaluation won’t cut it.  On a similar vein, USCIS will only accept letters from experts with extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job as valid.  Simply instructing in the field will not suffice.  Ideally, the expert has been in leadership roles and made hiring decisions regarding the position in question and supporting positions.

Identify who dropped the ball and identify what eligibility requirements have not been met.  Then fortify these areas accordingly with added evidence and documentation, the right credential evaluation, and an expert opinion letter from the right kind of expert.  Sounds exhaustive?  With the proper guidance, it doesn’t have to be.

Let us review your RFE for free to identify areas of weakness and consult on how to strengthen your case to get that visa approved.  Visit www.ccifree.com for a free review of your case.  We will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

Specialty occupation and wage level issues have become a scourge for H-1B applicants.  Over the past few years, USCIS has changed the way it adjudicates the specialty occupation requirement.  This year the wage level component has become a heated legal issue with the AILA representing five tech and medical nonprofits suing the Biden Administration to block H-1B approval based on the highest wages.

We expect these hot button issues to impact H-1B petition adjudication this summer with the Double RFE, which takes issue with wage level and specialty occupation.

Here’s how it works:

USCIS has been adjudicating the specialty occupation requirement differently.  Instead of defining a specialty occupation as a job that normally requires a minimum of an advanced degree, it adjudicates the term as ALWAYS requiring an advanced degree making the exception the norm.  USCIS has also been making the assumption that wage level one implies a job is entry level.  Since entry level jobs are more likely than other industry jobs to normally but NOT ALWAYS require an advanced degree, this becomes both a wage level issue and a specialty occupation issue: either the H-1B employee is not making the prevailing wage, or the job is not a specialty occupation.

Of course, this is flawed logic, but it is flawed logic that H-1B applicants are left to deal with.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we help our clients answer this RFE every year.  This is what we do:

We work with experts in every H-1B field that can write expert opinion letters to validate that our clients’ cases meet H-1B wage level and specialty occupation requirements.  These experts have at least a decade of experience working directly in the field of the H-1B job, are in excellent standing within the industry, and have made hiring decisions regarding the position in question and supporting positions.  Our clients provide the expert with as much evidence and documentation as possible regarding the position and the employer, including a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job, past hiring practices, the ad for the job, and ads for the same position in parallel companies within the industry. 

Also include the factors that went into setting the wage level.  The purpose is to show that the educational requirement is an industry standard for this position and that the wage level is set appropriately in regards to the beneficiary’s education and work experience.  In many cases, the wage level is set low because a beneficiary may have the required degree but little to no actual field experience and would therefore require a high level of training and supervision to start justifying the low wage level.  There are many factors that go into determining the wage level for any given job including what parallel companies within the industry in the employer’s geographical location are paying and employee experience.

From all of this documentation and evidence, the expert can write the expert opinion letter your case needs to overturn the RFE and get that visa approved.

Before you file a completed H-1B petition or answer a Double RFE, let us review your case for free and provide a free consultation.  Visit www.ccifree.com and we will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

Every year, H-1B applicants file completed petitions only to receive an RFE…with EVERYTHING in it.  Complex RFEs that take issue than more than one requirement area have become increasingly common over the past decade and are expected to continue to arrive.  It may seem like you have to rewrite the petition from scratch to meet its demands, and there is never enough time and money to make it work.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with complex RFEs every year, from the Double RFE to the Triple Threat to the Nightmare.  We advise answering them in these three steps:

1. Go back to the basics.  Read through the RFE with your team, then put it down and go back to the original H-1B eligibility requirements.  It is essential to keep one eye on USCIS approval trends when identifying where in your case eligibility requirements are not met.  For example, USCIS has been taking issue with occupations that do not ALWAYS require a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree even though eligibility requirements state that NORMALLY will suffice.  USCIS requires an exact degree specialization match to meet educational requirements.  Consultants require a complete itinerary of the work to be performed for the duration of the H-1B visa along with additional documentation of how the employer will be able to control the H-1B employee’s work offsite.  Level one wages tend to raise a red flag as USCIS assumes this means the position is entry level and applicants are back to square one with specialty occupation issues all over again.  Identify where your case needs work and fortify accordingly.

2. Include and expert opinion letter.  If you receive a complex RFE, do not submit your response without an expert opinion letter to lend weight to your case for visa approval.  This letter can address specialty occupation and wage level issues and is based on the evidence and documentation you can provide about the position and the company.  USCIS won’t just accept any expert’s opinion letter as valid.  This expert must have at least ten years of experience working directly in the field of the H-1B job, have leadership experience within the field, and ideally have made hiring decisions regarding the H-1B position and supporting occupations.

3. Include a credential evaluation to fill in any gaps between the education the beneficiary has and the education the beneficiary needs.  If the beneficiary has anything OTHER THAN a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job, you will need to include a credential evaluation.  It must be shown that the beneficiary has the academic equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job by US academic standards.  This requires a detailed credential evaluation that takes course content, non-collegiate training, and years of progressive work experience into account.  USCIS accepts that three years of work experience in the field of the H-1B job wherein the employee took on progressively more complex duties and responsibilities can account for one year of college credit in the field.  If a work experience conversion is required, a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience must write this conversion.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with the right kind of experts in all H-1B fields and professors with the authority to grant college credit for work experience.  We always watch USCIS approval trends closely and can help you identify where your case needs to be strengthened.  Receiving an RFE means an opportunity to strengthen your case.

Let us review your case for free.  Visit www.ccifree.com and we will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas. 

Specialty occupation issues are likely to be a common RFE trigger again this H-1B filing season.  These issues arise when the beneficiary’s job does not ALWAYS require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or higher according to its entry in the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook.  Even if the position normally requires this educational baseline USCIS has consistently been adjudicating the exception as the norm. 

If you, or if your employee or client has one such occupation, there are three additional ways you can prove the specialty occupation requirement is met.  It requires additional evidence and documentation.

1. A minimum degree requirement is required in parallel positions in similar organizations within the industry.
2. The employer requires a degree minimum for this position as evidenced by past hiring practices.
3. This position is uniquely complex and specialized as to require the skills associated with the completion of an advanced degree to perform.

To support these criteria, you will need to provide the ad for the job showing the advanced degree minimum requirement and ads for the same position at similar organizations within the industry showing the advanced degree minimum requirement.  Provide documentation of past hiring practices that show past employees hired to this position had obtained an advanced degree along with the ad for the job in the past proving this has historically been a minimum educational requirement for the position.  Provide a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the H-1B job highlighting how skills and knowledge acquired through completing an advanced degree program directly apply.  Finally, you will need to include an expert opinion letter to analyze the evidence and documentation you provide and validate your case.

However, USCIS will not accept just any expert’s opinion as justification for visa approval.  For example, if the expert has years of experience teaching in the field of the H-1B job, but little to no actual work experience in the field, and no experience in positions of leadership or making hiring decisions, USCIS will not accept their opinion letter. 

The RIGHT expert has at least a decade of experience working directly in the field of the H-1B job including holding positions of leadership.  They should have experience making hiring decisions regarding the H-1B position in question and have an understanding of the educational background necessary to correctly perform the job.  The more details you provide the expert the better the opinion letter will be.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with RIGHT experts in all H-1B fields with experience writing expert opinion letters for H-1B visa petitions.  Before you file, include an expert opinion letter to make sure you have your specialty occupation requirement bases covered.

For a free review of your case visit www.ccifree.com.  We will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

Over the better part of the past decade the rate of H-1B RFEs – including complex RFEs like the Triple Threat and the Nightmare – have been high.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult cases and RFEs every year and have identified red flags that USCIS adjudicators are looking for to issue RFEs.  The trick is to catch them in your own case before you file so you can fix them and provide additional evidence and documentation to strengthen weak areas.

Inconsistent Answers

If information is not consistent across all documents, including resumes and letters of support, USCIS will notice.  This triggers a close examination of the case and glitches that would likely slide will become RFE issues to deal with.  Be sure to go over all forms and supporting documents for consistency before you file.

Mismatched or Missing Education

If the beneficiary’s degree is anything except a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job, this will raise a red flag UNLESS a credential evaluation is included in the initial petition.  While there are many educational pathways, USCIS must see that the beneficiary has attained the academic equivalence of a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job to avoid any issues.  Foreign education must be evaluated for US academic equivalence.  Beneficiaries with degrees in related, unrelated, or generalized majors, incomplete college, or no college must include an evaluation that shows they have completed the equivalency of the needed degree in the major of the H-1B job.  This means taking course content, non-academic training, and progressive work experience into account. 

Some or All Work will take place at a Third-Party Worksite

IT consulting firms are most at risk for this red flag.  If the H-1B employee will work partially or completely at a third-part worksite, or if work is attained on a per-project basis, USCIS will take notice.  To address this red flag, include a complete itinerary of the work the H-1B employee will perform for the duration of the three-year visa period including client or customer contact information to verify.  Document how the employer will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee when working at a third-party worksite.  The goal is to show USCIS that the H-1B employee will always have work and that this work will always be controlled by the employer during the H-1B visa period.

Occupation Does Not ALWAYS Require a Bachelor’s Degree

Check the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook’s entry for the H-1B position to make sure that it ALWAYS requires a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree for entry into the position.  According to statute, a position must normally have this degree requirement to achieve the specialty occupation requirement.  However, USCIS has been regularly adjudicating it as “always” effectively making the exception the norm.  If this is the situation for your case, you need to use another avenue to meet the specialty occupation requirement showing that the position in question is uniquely specialized as to have a minimum requirement for this degree.  This means including a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job and an expert opinion letter written by a professional with at least a decade of experience working in the field of the H-1B job.  Ideally, this expert has experience hiring to the position in question and can show how skills and knowledge attained through completion of a bachelor’s degree program or higher applies directly to the duties and responsibilities of the job. 

Level One Wages

The USCIS adjudication trend when it comes to level one wages has been to assume that the wage level implies that the position in question is entry level.  This can trigger specialty occupation issues because entry level positions are often the ones that normally but not always require a US bachelor’s degree minimum.  On the other hand, since the H-1B employee must be paid the prevailing wage, if the position is not entry level, USCIS adjudicates the petition as though the employee is being underpaid.  This issue can be addressed with an expert opinion letter showing that not only is the job specialized, but the starting wage is an industry norm.  The employer must also provide additional documentation as to why the wage level is set as it is.  Many H-1B employees have just completed college in the US so they have educational training but limited or no work experience and require higher levels of training and supervision to start.

Before you file, let us review your case to identify red flags and areas of weakness.  For a free review of your case visit www.ccifree.com.  We will respond in four hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

USCIS completed the randomized H-1B cap-subject lottery, selecting enough registrations to meet the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 advanced degree cap. 

Selection status can be accessed through the registrant’s myUSCIS account.  If selected, it will say “selected.” If the petition has been accepted but not selected in the lottery, it will say “submitted.”  Registrations submitted but not selected will get a second shot in July because not all of those selected will file completed petitions, and some petitions will be denied.  If the status says “denied” it means that multiple petitions were filed for the same beneficiary rendering them all invalid, and if the status says “Invalidated-Failed Payment” it means the $10 fee could not be processed.

If your registration was selected, that means you have 90 days from the date of selection to file the completed H-1B petition.  We recommend filing the complete petition as soon as possible to prevent delaying the employee start date.  Every year we see a high level of RFEs in response to H-1B petition, up to three rounds before visa approval delaying start dates and company workflow.  You can prevent this by filing early and strengthening your case with additional evidence and documentation in the initial petition.

Do you, or does your employee or client have education from outside of the United States, incomplete college, a three-year bachelor’s degree, a degree in a mismatched field, a generalized degree, no college, or education from an unaccredited university?  Do not file without a detailed credential evaluation that takes professional training, course content, and work experience into account to fill in any gaps between the education they have and the education USCIS requires for visa approval.

Do you, or does your employee or client work in a position that does not ALWAYS require attainment of a bachelor’s degree or higher according to the US Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook?  You will need to provide additional documentation as to why this position is uniquely specialized and an expert opinion letter.  This evidence and documentation should also address any anticipated wage level issues, particularly if the H-1B employee will be making level one wages.  This can raise red flags that the position is entry level, which makes the position additionally vulnerable to specialty occupation issues during adjudication.

Do you, or does your employee or client work as a consultant or perform work at a third-party worksite?  You will have to provide an itinerary of the work the H-1B employee will perform for the duration of the three-year H-1B visa period along with customer or client contact information.  You will also need to clearly show how the employer will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee even at third-party worksites.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult cases and RFEs every year.  We understand what triggers adjudication issues, we keep an eye on USCIS approval trends, and we know how to prevent RFEs and Denials.  We work with skilled credential evaluators and experts in all H-1B fields.  Let us review your case for free before you file to identify any areas of weakness and offer our recommendations.

For a free review of your case visit www.ccifree.com.  We will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

H-1B electronic registrants selected in the lottery are being notified by USCIS starting TODAY.  That means it’s time to get filing.  Complete petitions will start being accepted tomorrow and time is of the essence.

We anticipate high levels of RFEs again this year.  Even with the change of administration, specialty occupation and employer-employee relationship issues are still expected to run rampant.  These approval trends were commonplace before any attempts to codify them were made.  That means a bulletproof petition anticipates these issues:

Include added documentation supporting Specialty Occupation H-1B requirements.

If the H-1B job does not ALWAYS require a minimum or a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the field of the H-1B job in the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, additional documentation is needed.  Include a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job highlighting specialized skills and knowledge acquired through completion of a US bachelor’s degree program or higher.  Include documentation of past hiring practices showing the company requires a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree or higher for entrance into the position in question.  Tie it all together with an expert opinion letter from an industry professional with extensive field experience including having made hiring decisions regarding this position and supporting positions.  All of this must be included in the initial petition to prevent an RFE.

Include a complete itinerary for the duration of the H-1B visa.

This added step is a headache and a half but is essential for consulting firms and other companies that take on work on a per-project basis.  Employers now must show that there will be work for the H-1B employee for the entire H-1B visa period.  This means writing on a timeline of projects including client or customer contact information.  For H-1B employees who will be working at offsite third-party locations for any part of the three-year H-1B period, include an analysis of how the employer will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee even when they are working offsite.

Before you file, let us review your case for free to identify any weaknesses that need additional evidence and documentation.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with difficult H-1B cases and RFEs every year with an over 90% rate of visa approval.

Visit www.ccifree.com for a free case review and consultation.  We will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

H-1B cap registration season is in full swing with USCIS accepting electronic registrations until noon Eastern Time on March 25^th.  Those selected in the lottery will be notified starting March 31^st and USCIS will begin accepting completed petitions the following day.  That means it’s time to identify where your case needs strengthening.

We anticipate high levels of RFEs this year, as we have seen over the past five years.  One of the most common RFE categories that has been towards the top for the better part of a decade is education.  This generally comes in three forms:

• Degree is from outside of the United States, particularly the three-year bachelor’s degree.
• Degree specialization is not an exact match for the H-1B job.
• Incomplete, missing, or unaccredited college.

These are common because 1) H-1B employees have often completed their education in another country, 2) pathways through education are not always linear or traditional, and 3) employers routinely hire employees with degrees in fields related to the job because there is a high level of skill and knowledge overlap.

If you, or if your employee or client has a degree from outside of the United States – especially a three-year bachelor’s degree, incomplete college, no college, a degree from an unaccredited university, or the right degree in the wrong specialization, don’t wait for the education RFE to address the issue.  Include a credential evaluation in your initial filing that closes gaps between the education the beneficiary has, and the education the beneficiary needs for USCIS to approve the visa.

The right credential evaluation is uniquely tailored to the beneficiary’s education, the H-1B job, H-1B requirements, and USCIS approval trends.  USCIS will accept that three years of progressive work experience in the field of the H-1B job is the equivalent of one year of college credit in the matching specialization.  This conversion must be written by a professor with the authority to issue college credit for work experience and included in the credential evaluation.  The right evaluation may also take academic course content, classroom contact hours, and other professional development training into account.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com every evaluation we write is uniquely researched and written.  We work with professors with the authority to write work experience conversions. 

Let us review your case for free before you file.  Visit www.ccifree.com/ and we will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

H-1b cap-subject filing season is here and runs until noon Eastern Time on March 25^th!  Those selected in the lottery will be notified starting March 31^st and USCIS begins accepting full petitions the following day.

We expect USCIS will be as picky as ever when it comes to adjudicating H-1B petitions.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we follow USCIS approval trends closely and have found that these three steps are key to an airtight petition:

1. Make sure all answers are consistent across ALL documents.  This includes the LCA, all H-1B forms, resumes, academic documents, and all information regarding the employer.  Make sure to file EVERYTHING in order.  Make their job easy and you will make it easy for them to approve the visa.
2. Include an academic credential evaluation to close any gaps between the beneficiary’s education, and a US bachelor’s or higher degree in the EXACT field of the H-1B job.  Even if the beneficiary has the right degree in a related field, this could trigger an RFE.  It must be an exact match to be airtight. 
3. Include an expert opinion letter that addresses specialty occupation and wage level issues to lend credibility to these H-1B criteria.  This letter must be written by an expert in specialty of the H-1B job with extensive field and leadership experience.  The best expert has made hiring decisions regarding the H-1B position and can identify the skills and knowledge learned through degree attainment apply directly to the duties and responsibilities of the H-1B job.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult RFEs and Denials every year.  We know how to identify case weaknesses that triggers them, and we know how to strengthen these areas to successfully prevent and overturn them.

Let us review your case before you file FOR FREE.  Visit www.ccifree.com and we will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.