Need Help?
Message Sheila D, Executive Director with any questions
9544405599

answering an h1b rfe

Overturning the RFE for Specialty Occupation

Credential Evaluation, immigration

It’s RFE season and CIS is coming down especially hard on “borderline” occupations this year. These are jobs that don’t necessarily require a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalent or higher according the the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH). Some borderline jobs include management positions, certain computer and tech positions, certain healthcare occupations, and other jobs that vary in specialization based on the individual circumstances of the unique job itself. When an employer fills out the Labor Conditions Application, they must choose the employee’s occupation from the OOH. This selection is used by CIS to determine the prevailing wage the H1B employee must be paid. Employers of H1B candidates with borderline jobs can choose a job from the OOH that emphasizes a central aspect of the occupation that requires a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalency or higher. This is where three problems arise that result in some very serious RFEs: First, most jobs don’t meet the duties and responsibilities outlined in occupations in the OOH 100%. This is a vulnerability CIS takes advantage of to issue an RFE. Second, when employers do this, the job on the petition does not match the job on the LCA. Third, the wages employers are paying their H1B workers is called into question because the wages being paid to the H1B worker is not the same as the wage level as stated for the occupation in the OOH. These are very serious RFEs. Does this mean employees with borderline occupations are out of luck this RFE season? No, but it requires answering the RFE with a lot of evidence, documentation, citations, and analysis. The goal is either to prove that this particular occupation is uniquely specialized as to require an advanced degree, or that the candidate’s degree equivalency meets the educational requirements stated for the OOH job indicated on the LCA. Don’t try to answer this RFE alone. This is not something you can do without help from experts in international education, the details of H1B educational requirements, and CIS approval trends, and is familiar with the various OOH/ONET positions and their requirements. While there are no guarantees with CIS, at TheDegreePeople.com, our experts have been able to overturn these RFEs with a 100% success rate. Visit http://ccifree.com/ and let us help you solve your RFE dilemma.]]>

Overturn the Dreaded Level 1 Wage and Specialty Occupation H1B RFE

Case Studies, immigration

It’s no secret that CIS approval trends, especially with regards to the much sought-after H1B visa, change from year to year. RFEs for petitions for FY-2018 have started arriving and this year, CIS is going after entry level wages for H1B jobs. Here’s the scoop: H1B visas are reserved for highly skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations. This means a candidate must hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher, or its equivalent to qualify, and the job must be specialized to the point of requiring a minimum of that degree or degree equivalency to perform its duties. Part of the petition is the employer submitting a Labor Conditions Application which indicates that the H1B employee will make prevailing wages for that job in that geographic location for companies of that size. Some of these jobs pay entry level wages. That’s where employers have been running into trouble this year. CIS has been consistent in issuing RFEs for candidates making entry level wages because there is question as to whether these entry level jobs are adequately specialized to meet H1B educational requirements. While the rationalization behind this is that many entry level jobs do not require a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent, many professions DO require this education to gain entry to the field. At TheDegreePeople.com, we work with RFEs and difficult cases on a regular basis and understand what CIS is really looking for in the evidence they request. To have us review your case at no charge and no obligation, please submit the following documents to [email protected] • LCA • Beneficiary’s resume and educational documents • Employer Support Letter • Detailed job description and duties • RFE We will get back o you in 48 hours or less with a full analysis and, if we can help you, the costs of this and how many to order.]]>

Five Tips to Successfully Answer Your H1B RFE

Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

  • Find out who is at fault for the RFE.
    • This is not to cast blame, but rather to find out where evidence is lacking and who dropped the ball. Sometimes CIS is at fault. It’s no surprise that CIS makes mistakes. A candidate can file a spotless H1B petition on time, in order, and still receive an RFE. Sometimes the attorney will file the petition wrong. Sometimes the candidate is mistaken or misleading about the actual academic value of their education, sometimes the credential evaluator made a mistake, and sometimes the evaluator wrote an accurate evaluation without taking CIS approval trends and H1B requirements into consideration. Find out who is at fault, and from there discern what must be done to rectify the situation.
    1. Read the RFE, but don’t read into it TOO much.
    Sit down with your team, read the RFE, figure out what is being asked of you, and then put it down. Getting caught up in the wording of an RFE can distract you from what CIS is actually asking. Instead of focusing on the verbatim of the RFE, discern what they are trying to learn about the candidate based on the evidence they request. RFEs like the Nightmare RFE are virtually impossible to answer by following its own guidelines. The RFE will not tell you how to answer it. Look instead to tip number three.
    1. Go back to the initial H1B requirements.
    Instead of getting caught up in what the RFE is asking, go back to the original H1B requirements and find out what was lacking in the initial petition. CIS issues an RFE when they don’t feel they have enough information to make a decision of whether or not you or your employee or client meets visa requirements with the evidence and documentation originally given. H1B visas are for highly skilled foreign workers employed in specialty occupations that require a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent as a minimum requirement for the job. The job must meet this requirement, and the candidate must hold that degree or its foreign equivalent in the exact field of their H1B job. Furthermore, you must prove that the candidate and the employer have an employer-employee relationship, the employer is economically viable, and the candidate will be receiving the prevailing wages and benefits for that job in that geographical location for companies of that size. Find out which of these requirements is lacking in evidence and work with your team to fill in the evidentiary gaps left open in the initial petition.
    1. For candidates with foreign degrees, incomplete college or no college degrees, or degrees that do not exactly match the job need a credential evaluation.
    If you or your employee or client is in one of the above situations, you need to include a credential evaluation in your response to the RFE. CIS will not approve the visa unless there is a clear explanation of why the candidate meets the educational requirements. If you or your employee or client has a foreign visa, it needs to be evaluated for US academic value. For foreign bachelor’s degrees that take three years to complete instead of the US four, the candidate will need a work experience conversion that converts three years of progressive work experience in the field into college credit towards that specialization to account for the missing fourth year. If you or your employee or client has a degree in a field that doesn’t exactly match their job, they will need a work experience conversion as well, and a close examination of their course content to write an equivalency to the correct specialization. There are many other situations in which a credential evaluation is required. Don’t take chances, simply go to ccifree.com and attach your or your employee or client’s client’s educational documents, a current resume, and the job title or desired equivalency and we will get back to you within 24 hours with a free pre-evaluation and analysis with all of your options.
    1. If a credential evaluation is needed, make sure you work with an agency that understands H1B visas.
    A common education RFE occurs when a candidate submits the right credential evaluation for the wrong visa. Different visas have different requirements for what is acceptable for equivalencies and conversions. The evaluation agency you need understands the nuances of the H1B visa and also keeps an eye on CIS approval trends, which change. When you’re talking with a potential credential evaluation agency, keep this in mind: if they don’t ask about the visa or job, they don’t understand what they need to write an evaluation for the visa. Without this information, it is impossible. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of TheDegreePeople.com a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a no charge analysis of any difficult case, RFEs, Denials, or NOIDs, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

    H1B RFE Season 2017 is Here! Are You Ready?

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    ccifree.com and submit the educational documents and a current accurate resume along with the candidate’s job title or desired equivalence. We will get back to you within 24 hours with the pre-evaluation, a full analysis, and all of your options. About the Author  Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

    What H1B Job Title is an RFE Magnet?

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    ccifree.com and submit all educational documents, a current, accurate resume, and indicate the job title or desired equivalency. We will get back to you within 24 hours with your pre-evaluation, a full analysis, and all of your options. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of TheDegreePeople.com a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a no charge analysis of any difficult case, RFEs, Denials, or NOIDs, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

    Expert Tips for You To Successfully Answer an H1B RFE

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

  • Don’t expect your RFE to tell you how to answer it.
    • A big mistake candidates and their lawyers make every year is expecting the RFE to be helpful. When you read the RFE, remember that it is a tool CIS uses to weed out petitions. It’s a red flag. There are far too many petitions for the annual H1B visa cap every year and your RFE or your employee or client’s RFE is most likely a documented excuse for denial rather than a tool to help you. Read the RFE, make note of what it’s asking, but don’t get caught up in its wording and specific demands. Remember, some RFEs are virtually impossible to answer based on the directions they provide. This does not mean they’re impossible to answer. You just need to look for the answers in the right places.
    1. Reference and Understand H1B Requirements.
    The initial H1B eligibility requirements are the right place to look for the answers you need to get that RFE overturned. Your RFE, or your employee or client’s RFE was triggered because the evidence provided in the initial petition fell short of clearly proving the initial H1B requirements were met. Find out which requirements CIS is unclear about. When you go over the RFE, first revisit the detailed requirements INCLUDING current CIS educational trends, and then have these requirements on hand while you read through the RFE to discern where evidence was lacking. Then, figure out what documentation you need to fill in the gaps.
    1. Don’t expect to always be able to provide the specific materials the RFE requests.
    You will NOT always be able to get the specific documents CIS requests in the time allotted to answer the RFE. RFEs like The Nightmare are not designed to be answered, they are designed to confuse and justify denying the visa. If you follow the directions in an RFE like this one, you will find yourself out of time, out of money, and nowhere closer to getting your visa, or your employee or client’s visa approved. So don’t expect to in the first place and you will save yourself a whole heap of stress.
    1. Discern what it is CIS really wants to know.
    So you’ve reviewed the initial H1B requirements, you understand that the answer to your RFE does not lie within the RFE itself, and you know that you won’t necessarily be able to provide the exact documentation CIS requests in the RFE. Now it’s time to discern what CIS really wants to know. Sit down together, read the RFE with the initial H1B requirements, and figure out what CIS really wants to know. Where was clarity lacking in the initial petition? In many cases, the shortcomings have to do with CIS approval trends regarding educational equivalencies, or with proving specialization. When you meet with your team, be sure that your team includes a credential evaluator with experience working with H1B RFEs, understands CIS education regulations and approval trends, and has an in-depth understanding of international education. Education requirements and what is and what is not accepted as valid educational equivalencies for H1B visas have changed in recent years, and meeting these requirements can take a creative approach.
    1. MEET THE DEADLINE.
    Don’t miss the deadline. Make sure your RFE answer is filed by the deadline, and includes all of the documentation and evidence you need to strengthen your case, or your employee or client’s case, in order, and easy to read. It is highly unlikely you will get an extension, and missing the deadline will most likely lead to the case getting rejected. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

    Answering an H1B RFE: Beware of Education Traps!

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    Badly Translated Transcripts When you submit an H1B petition, CIS requires all educational documents be translated into English and evaluated for US academic equivalence. Some degrees simply don’t translate directly into English. At the same time, many degrees do translate directly into English when it comes to the wording, but the degree has an entirely different academic content. This is why degrees must be translated AND evaluated, and these are both highly specialized fields. Sometimes translation agencies overstep their scope of practice and make educational value judgments along with language translation. This is a major H1B education trap that has become more and more treacherous as some translation agencies have begun to market their services as a “one-shop stop” for translation and evaluation. Credential evaluation must be carried out on a case-by-case basis because every pathway through learning is unique, every institution is unique, and every country has a unique structure. An evaluator must be knowledgeable about these differences, as well as federal case law, CIS precedents, degree program admissions requirements, and international trade agreements to write an accurate evaluation of your degree, or your employee or client’s degree. Translation agencies simply do not have this expertise and instead turn to conservative equivalency databases like EDGE, which is not actually a standardized equivalency database as no such database actually exists. If you or your employee or client received an RFE as the result of a bad translation, talk to a credential evaluation agency that works regularly with H1B RFE cases. A skilled evaluator can spot a bad translation and evaluate accordingly. The degree is not from a government-accredited institution. The fact is, there are plenty of institutions around the world that offer rigorous education programs that fully prepare workers for highly specialized occupations that are not actually government accredited. That means that even though you or your employee or client may have a legitimate education from an institution held in high regard by your industry, or your employee or client’s industry, the institution itself may not be government accredited and CIS will not approve the visa. This is an RFE trap that you may or may not be able to wriggle free of. If you have, or if your employee or client has years of progressive work experience in the field of their specialty occupation, a credential evaluator with the authority to convert years of work experience into college credit to write a US bachelor’s degree equivalency CIS will accept. It’s always best to find whether or not this will work BEFORE you file the petition, but even if you fell into this H1B trap for FY2017 you may still be able to answer the RFE and get the visa approved. The Bachelor’s Degree is ACTUALLY just a high school diploma. This happens more often than you may think. Mistaking a high school diploma for a Bachelor’s degree can happen as the result of cross-cultural misunderstandings, bad translations, and acting upon false information. H1B educational criteria require candidates to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher, or its equivalent. A high school diploma – or the foreign equivalent of a US high school diploma – will not cut it. If you or your employee or client fell into this H1B education trap, talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with H1B RFEs. If you have, or if your employee or client has any post-secondary education from an accredited institution, this can be counted towards a bachelor’s degree equivalency, along with any years of progressive work experience you have, or your employee or client has in the field of employ. This is a tough mistake to recover from, and you may even find out that you or your employee or client has been pursuing the wrong visa all along. However, there is still a chance that you can claw your way out of this H1B education trap. About the Author  Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.  ]]>

    How to Find the Right Credential Evaluator for an H-1B RFE

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

  • Do they offer a free review of the case?
    • An evaluator cannot know what services must be provided – or whether or not your education, or your employee or client’s education and work experience will even work for the H-1B visa at all – without reviewing your employment history, or your employee or client’s employment history and educational documents. You received an education RFE. Before you answer it, make sure you CAN answer it successfully with what you, or your employee or client has to work with, and what needs to be done to write the equivalency that will accurately meet H-1B education standards. If an agency or evaluator asks for payment before looking into what needs to be done, look elsewhere.
    1. Are they easy to work with?
    The evaluator who you want to work with is one who wants to work with you. Answering an RFE means you have to collect a lot of documentation – some not so easy to secure – in a short amount of time. Don’t waste your time working with an evaluator who doesn’t answer your calls, your text, your emails, or your questions to your satisfaction. Being easy to work with also means they are affordable and offer rush delivery options. When it comes to credential evaluation agencies, you don’t “get what you pay for.” The best ones tend to be inexpensive.
    1. Did they ask about the visa?
    A common cause of an education RFE is that the evaluator wrote the right evaluation for the wrong visa. Many evaluation agencies will write a standard evaluation of your credentials, or your employee or client’s credentials without regard for the particular, unique educational requirements for the H-1B visa. Educational requirements, as well as approval trends and standards surrounding what education and work experience can be combined to write an equivalency vary from visa to visa. For example, an H-1B beneficiary may combine work experience and college credit to write an acceptable equivalency to a US bachelor’s degree. Meanwhile, an EB2 beneficiary who tries to do the same thing will fail because for that particular visa the bachelor’s degree must be a single source. The evaluation must lend itself to the visa in question to be successful.
    1. Did they ask about the job offer?
    Just like the particular visa requirements, the evaluation must also lend itself to the client’s job offer. In the past, CIS has accepted petitions in which the beneficiary holds a degree in a field related to the job offer. This is not the case anymore. Now CIS requires beneficiaries to have a degree in their exact field of employ. This is because H-1B visas are for beneficiaries working specialized occupations, with knowledge and skills specialized to their field. While an employer will look at a candidate’s education and work experience and see that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to work their job, if the degree is not in the field, CIS will require more evidence. If your credential evaluator doesn’t ask about your job, or your employee or client’s job, he or she does not understand this and you need to look elsewhere. If your degree, or your employee or client’s degree is in a mismatched field, a credential evaluator with the authority to convert progressive work experience in the field into college credit in that specialization is exactly who you need to be working with.
    1. Do the often work with RFEs, Denials, and NOIDs?
    The credential evaluator you want is one who does not shy away from difficult cases. You, or your employee or client received an RFE, so you want to work with an evaluation agency with extensive experience answering them. It’s important to keep in mind that the roadmap to answering the RFE is NOT IN THE RFE ITSELF. Especially with RFEs like the Nightmare – which is virtually impossible to answer if you follow its instructions – guidance from those who know the terrain and can navigate it successfully is essential to success. Evaluators that work with these kinds of cases know what CIS is looking for in the documentation they request, know what triggers and RFE, and what works and what does not in answering it. These evaluators follow CIS approval trends, which change from year to year. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of TheDegreePeople.com a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a no charge analysis of any difficult case, RFEs, Denials, or NOIDs, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.    ]]>

    Scroll to Top