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How to Get Your H1B Visa Approved in USA: Tips for Addressing Specialty Occupation RFE Issues

immigration, Visa Approvals

Securing an H1B visa approval in the United States can be challenging, especially when USCIS issues a Request for Evidence (RFE) questioning specialty occupation eligibility or educational qualifications. Many H1B RFEs are not issued due to ineligibility, but because USCIS requires clearer documentation and professional validation. Expert opinion letters and foreign credential evaluations play a critical role in addressing these concerns and improving approval outcomes.

Understanding Specialty Occupation RFEs in H1B Cases

A specialty occupation RFE is issued when USCIS needs additional evidence to confirm that the offered job requires specialized knowledge and at least a bachelor’s degree in a specific field. These RFEs commonly arise when job duties are not clearly defined or when educational qualifications need further explanation.

USCIS may question:

  • Whether the job qualifies as a specialty occupation
  • If the degree field directly relates to the job role
  • Whether the education level meets H1B requirements

Receiving a specialty occupation RFE does not mean denial. It is an opportunity to strengthen the petition with proper documentation.

Why Education and Degree Equivalency Matter

Educational qualifications are a central part of H1B eligibility. When degrees are earned outside the United States, USCIS requires confirmation that they meet U.S. academic standards. This is especially relevant for applicants holding three-year bachelor’s degrees or degrees from international institutions.

Common education-related RFE issues include:

  • Unclear degree equivalency
  • Differences in academic structure or credit systems
  • Missing or incomplete transcripts

Foreign credential evaluations help resolve these concerns by presenting academic qualifications in a USCIS-recognized format.

Role of Expert Opinion Letters in Specialty Occupation RFEs

Expert opinion letters are professional assessments prepared by qualified specialists who analyze the job role, educational background, and industry requirements. These letters explain how the offered position meets specialty occupation criteria and how the applicant’s education supports the role.

Expert opinion letters help by:

  • Demonstrating that the job requires specialized knowledge
  • Linking job duties to degree requirements
  • Supporting foreign degree equivalency
  • Clarifying professional qualifications

Such letters directly address USCIS concerns raised in specialty occupation RFEs.

Importance of Foreign Credential Evaluation for H1B Approval

Foreign credential evaluation is essential for applicants with non-U.S. degrees. USCIS relies on these evaluations to determine whether the applicant’s education is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree or higher.

Credential evaluations assist in:

  • Establishing U.S. degree equivalency
  • Supporting specialty occupation eligibility
  • Strengthening petition documentation

This is particularly important for applicants whose degree duration or curriculum differs from U.S. standards.

Affordable and Reliable H1B RFE Support in the USA

Cost is a common concern for applicants responding to H1B RFEs. TheDegreePeople offers affordable expert opinion letter and credential evaluation services designed specifically for H1B specialty occupation and education-related RFEs.

Applicants benefit from:

  • Competitive and transparent pricing
  • Evaluations prepared by qualified professionals
  • Documentation aligned with USCIS expectations
  • Turnaround times suitable for RFE deadlines

Affordable services allow applicants to respond effectively without unnecessary financial strain.

When to Seek Professional Help for Specialty Occupation RFEs

Professional assistance is recommended when:

  • USCIS questions whether the role qualifies as a specialty occupation
  • The RFE requests clarification of job duties or education
  • A foreign degree requires equivalency evaluation
  • Previous submissions were deemed insufficient

Early professional support helps ensure that RFE responses are accurate, complete, and well-structured.

Cost of Expert Opinion Letters and Credential Evaluations

The cost of expert services varies based on case complexity and documentation needs.

Typical pricing includes:

  • Basic expert opinion letters: approximately $600–$1200
  • Foreign credential evaluations: approximately $500–$1000

These costs reflect the level of professional analysis required to meet USCIS standards.

Tips to Avoid Specialty Occupation RFEs

Applicants can reduce the likelihood of RFEs by:

  • Clearly defining job duties and required qualifications
  • Ensuring education aligns with the job role
  • Submitting complete academic documentation
  • Obtaining credential evaluations early

Proper preparation strengthens H1B petitions and improves approval chances.

About Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the executive director of TheDegreePeople.com and a leading expert in foreign degree evaluations. She is widely recognized for her innovative approach to difficult cases, helping thousands of clients successfully obtain visa approvals even when facing RFEs or denials. Her expertise in USCIS requirements and commitment to providing personalized, effective solutions make her a trusted resource for professionals navigating the immigration process.

Get a Free Review of Your Case

If you’ve received an RFE, don’t wait. Sheila Danzig and TheDegreePeople.com offer a free review of your case to determine the best course of action. Our expertise has helped thousands of professionals, including H-1B applicants, secure approvals even in challenging cases.

To get your free case review, visit www.ccifree.com today.

How to Get Your H1B Visa Approved in USA: Tips for Addressing Specialty Occupation RFE Issues Read More »

5 Red Flags to Fix in Your H-1B Petition to Prevent an Education RFE

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Education RFEs may be the most consistently common H-1B RFEs over the past decade. 

H-1B eligibility requires beneficiaries to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent in the field of the H-1B job.  While employers routinely hire employees with degrees in related fields with work experience in the field of the H-1B job or enough educational overlap to ensure qualification, USCIS will not approve their visas without a credential evaluation.  Employers routinely hire employees with incomplete college or no college if they have the field experience and skills needed to perform the job, but USCIS will not approve their visas without a credential evaluation.  Many H-1B employees earned their degrees in a foreign country. 

USCIS will not approve their work visas without a credential evaluation.  This requirement necessitates additional hand-holding because it is on the applicant to clearly show that the employee has equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree or higher in terms of US academic standards.

There are very specific situations that will prompt USCIS to scrutinize the petition which can quickly escalate into a complex RFE that is very difficult to answer. 

  1. Degree earned outside of the United States.
  2. Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree.
  3. Major does not exactly match the field of the H-1B job.
  4. Incomplete college.
  5. Missing college or college was completed at an unaccredited institution.

If one of these situations exists in your case it is essential to fix it before you file.  If an RFE has already arrived, the solution is the same.  Include a detailed credential evaluation written uniquely for your case which takes the job, the education, work experience, H-1B visa requirements, and USCIS approval trends into account.  This may include a close evaluation of course content, and it may include a work experience conversion. 

Do not submit an H-1B petition or RFE response without making sure all of the red flags are fixed.  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.

5 Red Flags to Fix in Your H-1B Petition to Prevent an Education RFE Read More »

Case Study: RFE for Wrong Degree Specialization Overturned!

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Case Study: RFE for Wrong Degree Specialization Overturned!

USCIS and employers have a different idea of what qualified an H-1B employee for their specialty occupation.  It is commonplace for employers to hire a candidate with a degree in a field related to the position, given they have proper work experience to master the specialized skills and knowledge necessary to perform it.

It has been years since USCIS has regularly approved H-1B cases in which a beneficiary has the required US Bachelor’s degree in a field RELATED to the specialty occupation.  USCIS will not outright approve an H-1B visa unless the beneficiary has a degree in the exact specialization of the occupation, or a detailed credential evaluation that explains how their educational and field experience background makes the equivalent of the correct degree specialization.

Every year, we have clients come to us in this situation.  The way we overturn these RFEs is to write a detailed evaluation that analyzes the course content of the degree earned to highlight college credit hours earned in the exact field of the H-1B job.  Then, we take progressive work experience into account to bridge the gap between the beneficiary’s education specialization and the field of the H-1B job.  Three years of progressive work experience in the field of the H-1B job in which the beneficiary can prove they took on progressively more responsibility and the nature of their duties and tasks became increasingly complex and specialized can be converted into one year of college credit in the field of the H-1B job.  This conversion must be written by a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience.

At TheDegreePeople.com, we work with professors in all fields to write the work experience conversion for the credential evaluation you or your employee or client needs to get that RFE overturned.  There are no cookie cutter solutions to H-1B RFEs because every case is different.  Every job is different, and every educational pathway is different, especially when it comes to highly skilled individuals.  All evaluations are uniquely researched and written with regards to your, or your employee or client’s education, job, work experience, and visa. 

For a free review of your case visit ccifree.com.  We will get back to you in 48 hours or less.

Case Study: RFE for Wrong Degree Specialization Overturned! Read More »

Common H-1B Issues to Anticipate this Adjudication Season

Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

Common H-1B Issues to Anticipate this Adjudication Season

In the next few months, H-1B petitioners and beneficiaries will find out if their petitions have been selected in the lottery, and accepted for approval.

We predict this year will follow the trend of the previous few years with an increase in H-1B issues that block beneficiaries from outright approval. What is unclear is whether beneficiaries will be receiving RFEs or Denials in response to these issues. Last year, adjudicators were given the authority and encouragement to deny petitions outright without offering an RFE as an opportunity to respond questionable cases. This was announced in a USCIS memorandum along with several other changes to the H-1B selection and adjudication process, some of which went into effect this lottery season, and some of which did not.

One thing is certain: preparation is key. It is FAR from impossible to overturn a Denial. You just need to stay one step ahead of the game. That means understanding what about your case may raise red flags, and that means going back to the basic H-1B eligibility requirements and taking an honest look at where your case may fall short.

Employer-Employee Relationship

Small businesses often run into trouble here if they cannot clearly show in the LCA that they can afford to pay the prevailing wage to the H-1B worker and maintain economic viability. Another big issue is when the beneficiary is an owner, founder or co-founder, or sole proprietor of the business. H-1B workers must have their work, wage, and employment status controlled by an employer to meet this requirement and beneficiaries cannot self-petition for this visa. If this is the situation, there must be a CEO or board of directors different from the H-1B worker that fills this role to prove an employer-employee relationship exists in the arrangement.

Wage Level

The H-1B employee must make the prevailing wages for the position. Factors that influence the prevailing wage include industry standards, company size, geographic location, and more. Workers making level one wages often run into issues. In a response to an RFE or Denial, you must articulate all of the factors that went in to setting the wage level and an expert opinion letter that assures the prevailing wage requirement has been met.

Specialty Occupation

For the last two H-1B seasons, this RFE has spiked in prevalence and is often linked with wage level issues. If you, or your employee or client’s job sometimes requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher, but not always, or if this job is particularly specialized, you need to take extra steps to meet this requirement. That means providing a detailed breakdown of the duties and tasks of the job, as well as the advanced knowledge, skills, and understanding that must be applied every day in this position. You will also need to show that a US bachelor’s degree or higher is a typical minimum requirement for this job as either an industry standard, or as a company standard as evidenced in the ad for the job and in past hiring practices. An expert opinion letter must also be included to lend validity to and analysis of the documentation provided by your team.

Educational Requirements

H-1B requires the beneficiary have a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent. Foreign degrees that are not accompanied by the right credential evaluation raise red flags, especially the Indian three-year bachelor’s degree. The right credential evaluation takes the H-1B job into consideration and makes the necessary work experience conversions and detailed course breakdowns necessary to fill in any gaps between the job and the degree as the degree must be in the exact field of the H-1B job to address the demands of a specialty occupation. Incomplete college or no college experience must be compensated for with work experience conversion that must be written by a professor with the authority to convert work experience into college credit.

Any situation out of the ordinary or that is not completely straightforward can raise a red flag, which in turn triggers and RFE or Denial. At TheDegreePeople.com we work with RFE and Denial cases every year. We know what to look for and we know how to successfully address it. For a free review of your case visit ccifree.com/. We will get back to you in 48 hours or less.

Common H-1B Issues to Anticipate this Adjudication Season Read More »

H1B 2019 Post-Memorandum: Who Caused that RFE?

Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

Sometimes it’s no one’s fault, and sometimes it’s fault of USCIS. When working with any bureaucratic process, there is the possibility of error.  When working with USCIS, there is the understanding that processing errors occur, and that their approval trends are volatile and can be unpredictable.  It can be difficult to anticipate which parts of the law they will interpret which way from year to year.  If approval issues arise due to bureaucratic or human error, there will likely be a way to address it.  A Denial is not the end of the road, it is just harder to overturn than an RFE.  If it is no one’s fault, or if USCIS pulls a fast one on us again, we can find a way to work around it. Sometimes the lawyer caused the RFE. Occasionally, an immigration attorney will file the wrong document, or file the petition wrong.  While this is rare, it can cost an outright approval.  To prevent this, legal assistants are encouraged to check in with TheDegreePeople.com to make sure that they have all of the necessary immigration forms, labor forms, and documentation necessary to file everything on time, in the right order, and filled out appropriately. Sometimes the beneficiary caused the RFE. It is not uncommon for a beneficiary to misunderstand the US academic equivalency of their education.  Sometimes a bachelor’s degree in one country is not a bachelor’s degree in the United States because even though the words translate the educational value does not.  Some certifications and professional licenses in some countries are the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in that field, while the US license or certification is not.  Sometimes a beneficiary will have a degree from an unaccredited academic institution, or even from a degree mill.  It is important for beneficiaries to understand their education, and what it means in terms of US value, and to make sure that their school is accredited.  If the beneficiary does not have the necessary education, it is their responsibility to make sure they have enough education and work experience to make up the equivalency. Sometimes it’s the employer or the job that caused the RFE. If the Labor Condition Application (LCA) is filled out incorrectly or misfiled, if there are discrepancies between the job description and the entry on the LCA, if USCIS feels that the wage level was set incorrectly or that the job does not meet specialty occupation requirements, issues will likely arise in the approval process.  It is recommended that all petitions now include an expert opinion letter clarifying that the job meets H1B specialty occupation requirements and explaining why the wage level is set as it is to meet H1B requirements. Before you file, let us review your case to make sure all your bases are covered.  It is more important this year than ever before to get it right the first time, because you may not get a second chance.  For a free review of your case visit ccifree.com/.  We will get back to you in 48 hours or less.  ]]>

H1B 2019 Post-Memorandum: Who Caused that RFE? Read More »

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