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H1B Educational Requirements Your Client Needs to Know About to Avoid an RFE

Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

Candidate’s Degree Must be a US Bachelor’s Degree or Its Equivalent This requirement is not as straightforward as it sounds. If your client has a four-year Bachelor’s degree from a US college or university, go ahead and file. All other degrees need to be reviewed by a credential evaluator. Foreign degrees need a credential evaluation because educational systems vary from country to country, and the academic value of a bachelor’s degree from one place does not necessarily equate because it’s called a bachelor’s degree. In the same way, a foreign certification or licensure may actually be the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree even though it doesn’t call itself a degree. For example, one situation that triggers a lot of RFE’s is when a candidate has an Indian Chartered Accountancy certification. This is actually the equivalent of a US Bachelor’s degree in accounting, but the same certification in Canada is not. The Canadian Chartered Accountancy certification is a professional license, but not post-secondary education. See how this gets confusing? A credential evaluator can make the necessary equivalency determinations about your client’s education, explain how the equivalency works, and back up with equivalency with evidence. Four Years of Post-Secondary Education Matter If your client has a three-year bachelor’s degree – ESPECIALLY if it’s an Indian three-year degree – their education is likely to trigger an RFE if it is not handled correctly. CIS trends require focus on longevity rather than academic content when it comes to years of college or university, so it is you and your client’s responsibility to show that academic content and progressive work experience comprise a fourth year of college credit. How can you do this? There are two options that we have seen work almost every time when it comes to the H1B visa. An evaluator can convert years of progressive work experience into college credit. Progressive experience means that your client’s job required them to expand their knowledgebase and skillset, and take on increasing amounts of work and responsibility. Three years of this nature of work can be converted into one year of college credit. Never submit an H1B petition without an evaluation that accounts for the missing fourth year. Degree Must Be Specialized and Exactly Matching Candidate’s Job This is a relatively new requirement that takes many H1B candidates, their employers, and their lawyers by surprise. While it’s common for an employer to hire a candidate with a degree in a field related to the job, CIS will not approve their visa. In the past six or seven years, CIS trends have changed regarding this requirement. In the past, a candidate with a degree in a related field would have the petition approved, now instead they receive an RFE. Your client’s degree major must be an exact match for their field of employ. At the same time, because H1B requirements indicate the job must require specialized knowledge and skills to carry out its duties, candidates with generalized degrees are also running into this problem. If your client is in a mismatched degree situation, your client needs to prove that she does possess the specialized skills and knowledge required to be successful at her job even if it is not directly reflected in her college major. The way to do this is to prove equivalence to a US bachelor’s degree in her field of employ with a credential evaluation. The way this works is an evaluator can convert years of progressive work experience in her field of employ into college credit hours in that major track with the three years of work to one year of college credit conversion. The evaluation must show that your client has the equivalent of a US four-year bachelor’s degree with the bulk to the equated credit hours in their field. This requires a detailed evaluation with a credential evaluator familiar with CIS educational requirements, as well as precedents of what they will accept and what they will not accept. If your client as anything but a straightforward US four-year bachelor’s degree, have their education reviewed by a credential evaluator to see what you need to do to avoid an RFE. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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.]]>

H1-B Checklist to Avoid an RFE in 2016

Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

  • Is your client’s job a specialty occupation?
    • What does this mean? To CIS, a specialty occupation is a job that requires your client to hold a US bachelor’s degree in the field or higher, or its equivalent to carry out the duties of said job. Their job must require specialized skills and knowledge to perform. How can you prove this? A copy of the ad for your client’s job that includes minimum requirements can be used as evidence, as well as similar postings for similar jobs working for similar companies. If your client’s job requires a bachelor’s degree or higher but similar positions do not, you need to supply more evidence. This means expert opinion letters, which can be useful anyway, as well as evidence that shows the skills needed for this particular job are more advanced due to the unique nature of your client’s particular job.
    1. Does your client’s education meet the requirements for their job?
    Once you’ve established that your client’s job is H1-B qualified, it’s time to make sure you’ve proven your client is qualified for his or her H1-B job. This means they have a bachelor’s degree or higher in the required field, as well as the necessary training and work experience the job requires.
    1. Is the value of your client’s education clear to CIS?
    If your client’s degree is from a country outside of the United States, it will need to be evaluated for US equivalence. Anything besides a very straightforward US bachelor’s degree needs a credential evaluation. Never submit an H1-B petition with a foreign degree without a detailed credential evaluation. This is an increasingly common RFE trigger. The Indian and other three-year Bachelor’s degrees commonly trigger RFE’s because of the missing fourth year. A credential evaluator can convert years of progressive work experience in your client’s field of employ into college credit to account for the missing year. Progressive means that the candidate’s work required them to take on more responsibilities and develop their knowledge base and skill set to meet the increasing demands of the work. Three years of progressive experience in the field can be equated to one year of college credit. All that is needed is a well-documented evaluation to prove it. Another common problem that trigger RFE’s for even the most qualified candidate’s petition is that they have a degree that doesn’t call itself a degree. Many countries have degrees that require postsecondary education and the necessary stages of education to meet Bachelor’s degree requirements, but don’t actually have the word “degree” in the title. These certifications also require a credential evaluation because while in some countries these are degree equivalencies, in other countries they are not. Because this is not clear and straightforward, without a credential evaluation CIS will not have enough evidence to approve your client’s petition.
    1. Do your client and his or her employee have an employer-employee relationship?
    What is an employer-employee relationship? To establish that your client and his or her employer have this kind of relationship, the employer must be able to hire, fire, promote, pay, and otherwise control the work that the employee does. To prove that this is the case, submit a copy of the employment contract, and other documentation that clearly displays the nature of your client’s work.
    1. Does your client’s degree match his or her field of employ?
    Just six or seven years ago, H1-B candidates were able to get their visas approved with a degree in a field related to their job. Now, CIS requires an exact match. Employers hire employees for specialized positions with bachelor’s degrees in related fields all the time. CIS, however, does not approve their visas. Instead, they get RFEs. If your client’s bachelor’s degree is generalized or in a field related to but not an exact match for his or her job, have a credential evaluator review their educational documents. Oftentimes, a detailed evaluation that takes work experience into account to draw an equivalency to a degree in the matching field.  Years of progressive work experience in the field can be counted towards this matching degree specialization with the three years of experience to one year of college credit conversion. This can both work to account for the missing fourth year in three-year Bachelor’s degrees, AND to write an equivalency for a specialized degree in your client’s exact field of employ. Before you file, sit down with your client, your client’s employer, and your credential evaluator and go through these questions. Ask, is this true? Then ask, have we provided the evidence necessary to clearly prove to CIS that this is true? Don’t ever file without doing everything you can to make sure you and your client got the petition right the first time. There’s no need to wait for an RFE. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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.  ]]>

    Why H1B RFEs Continue to Rise Every Year

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

  • Three-Year Bachelor’s Degrees
    • Candidates with three-year bachelor’s degrees from other countries are consistently running into trouble with H1B visa approval. Since the H1B visa status requires that the job be a specialty occupation requiring a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalent or higher, CIS see the missing fourth year and assumes that this directly translates into missing academic content. If this is a situation you and your client are facing, the solution is to submit a detailed credential evaluation along with your client’s transcripts. The evaluation you need will examine the number of classroom contact hours in your client’s degree and use the Carnegie Unit conversion to translate 15 classroom contact hours into 1 college credit hour. Since a minimum of 120 college credit hours are required to earn a US four-year bachelor’s degree, all this evaluation must do is show that your client’s education consisted of a minimum of 120 college credit hours. This credential evaluation must be written by an evaluator with the authority to convert classroom contact hours and years of work experience into college credit. An authorized credential evaluator can convert three years of progressive work experience into one year of college credit.
    1. Mismatched Degree
    This is a relatively new CIS trend that has been causing RFEs in just the past six or seven years. Oftentimes, employers will hire employees with degrees in fields related to their job but not exactly matching because there is enough overlap in the knowledge base and skill set, or because the candidate also has work experience in the field. In previous years, a degree in a related field would not trigger an RFE. Now it does. If your client’s degree is in a field that does not match their field of employ, he or she is at high risk of receiving an RFE. You need to prove that although your client has a mismatched degree, he or she clearly has the correct knowledge base and skill set. Here’s how: submit a credential evaluation that converts years of work experience into college credit to fill in the gaps between your client’s degree and your client’s job. Three years of progressive work experience in his or her field of employ can be equated to one year of college credit towards a degree with a major in the required field with the right evaluation. Your evaluator can also take a close look at the academic content of your client’s degree and count courses in their field of employ towards a major.
    1. Generalized Degree
    For a job to be H1B qualified, the candidate must possess a specialized knowledge base and skill set in order to perform the duties of this job. For this reason, candidates with generalized degrees run into trouble. If your client’s degree is not specialized even though he or she does have the specialized skills and knowledge necessary for the job, he or she is at high risk for an education RFE. The solution is to submit a detailed credential evaluation with the petition that takes a detailed look at the course content of your client’s degree and counts courses taken in his or her field towards a specialized degree in the field of the job. This evaluation should also take years of work experience in his or her field of employ into account using the 3-1 progressive work experience conversion to show the equivalency of a US bachelor’s degree in his or her field of employ. After going through all of the time, money, and effort to file your client’s H1B petition, finding out CIS wants even more evidence and documentation can quickly become a nightmare, especially if you receive a complicated RFE. It has become the norm for CIS to request a response to an RFE in 30 days, which compounds the stress of an RFE because acquiring the evidence requested can take more time than you have to acquire it. Some H1B RFEs are so complex in what they request that they are almost impossible – and the Nightmare RFE is ACTUALLY impossible – to respond to in the way CIS requests. These situations require a creative approach. You need to think about why CIS is requesting the documentation they are asking for, and what issue these documents and evidence are meant to address. Oftentimes, you can answer their questions clearly within your realistic means. To do this, an in depth understanding of CIS trends is required. At TheDegreePeople, we follow CIS trends closely and understand what they will and will not accept as evidence, and we know how to clearly explain to CIS why the evidence and documentation presented answers the questions they are really asking. About the Author  Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI, TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credentials evaluation agency. For a no-charge analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/?CodeBLG or call 800.771.4723.  ]]>

    How to Optimize Time Sponsoring 2017 H1B Clients and Employees

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    st, there are only 65,000 annual H-1B visas available and literally hundreds of thousands of H-1B candidates applying for them. There is no annual cap for H-1B jobs in the non-profit sector or for government-funded research foundations, but these kinds of jobs do not cover the needs of the private STEM industry companies that need H-1B employees the most. Even companies like Microsoft tend to only get around half of the H-1B visas they petition for. If your company or your client’s company wants H-1B visa workers for 2017, it’s time to get those petitions ready. At TheDegreePeople.com, we understand that preparing a petition takes time and can become very stressful. Having an advanced degree from a country outside of the United States – particularly from countries like India that have three-year bachelor’s degrees instead of four-year degrees – can cause trouble. If your employee or client has a degree specialized in a field related to but not exactly matching their field of employ, this can also cause trouble. There are many reasons your client or employee’s education can cause confusion when their petition is filed. Everything from mistranslations to confusion about credit hours can trigger an RFE or a Denial for an over-qualified, clearly adept H-1B visa candidate. Making sure your client or employee submits an accurate credential evaluation that meets the requirements of his or her H-1B visa along with the rest of the petition on April 1st is an essential way to save you time NOW and save you more time LATER. Don’t wait for an RFE, Denial, or NOID to address your client or employee’s education.   We offer a variety of low-cost rush delivery options for the last minute, no-cost consultations on your situation, and we can address your complicated cases quickly and successfully. 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, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/?CodeBLG/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

    How to Bridge the Fatal Gaps Between Your Degree and Your H1B Job

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    progressive work experience, the nature of the work must have required you to take on progressively more work and responsibilities representing your progressively growing specialized knowledge base and skill set. Don’t wait for an RFE or Denial to get your degree and work experience evaluated. While an RFE or Denial is not the end of the world, it is a big red flag to CIS that will trigger a close scrutiny of your petition. Minor errors and glitches that would have otherwise gone unnoticed will be unearthed because attention has been drawn to your petition. With hundreds of thousands of H1B Visa petitions to mire through, CIS uses red flags to make the hard decision of who gets their Visa approved and who does not for the set amount of annual Visa slots. Make the decision to approve your Visa easy by making your specialized knowledge and skill set clear with a credential evaluation from a professor authorized to convert work experience into college credit. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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. Mention that you saw this in the ILW article and get 72 hour rush service at no charge.  ]]>

    The Matter of Shah and Why it Should NOT Matter

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    did in fact major in chemistry in the Matter of Shah. Even though the board did not recognize the value of the candidate’s undergraduate degree, the University of Detroit certainly did.  In fact, the university admitted the candidate into their MBA program based on the three-year Indian bachelor’s degree being the equivalent of the US four-year bachelor’s degree necessary to gain entrance into that very program.  The fact that the candidate went on to successfully complete the two-year MBA program goes to show that the Indian three-year degree with chemistry as a special subject really did qualify the candidate for the graduate program. Finally, the last reason I will go into for why the Matter of Shah should not be grounds for denying anyone’s visa is that in making the decision, the board overturned a previous ruling.  This ruling was made by the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and can be found in Appendix 5-F, pages 34-37 of the Immigrant Inspector’s Handbook.  In this ruling, the department stated that a B.S. degree in chemistry from the candidate’s university, Gujarat University, is the equivalent of a United States B.S. degree. The Matter of Shah has its foundation in four errors:

    1. Incomplete evaluation of the academic content of the candidate’s degree.
    2. Failing to translate the term “Special” into US academic context.
    3. Ignoring the University of Detroit’s decision to admit the candidate into their graduate program based on the academic value of the candidate’s three-year Indian bachelor’s degree, as well as the candidate’s successful completion of the MBA.
    4. Overturning a previous ruling that determined that the candidate’s exact degree was the equivalent of a US four-year bachelor’s degree.
    The Matter of Shah should not serve as a roadblock to Visa approval.  Unfortunately, almost forty years later, it still does.  If your client or employee received an RFE about their three-year bachelor’s degree, you need to provide a credential evaluation that includes a refutation of the Matter of Shah.  As you can see, refuting the Matter of Shah as grounds for a decision about the value of a three-year Indian bachelor’s degree or specialization is not difficult to do in a credential evaluation.  However, the evaluator you select must be well versed in USCIS and immigration precedents, and be able to provide the documentation that highlights these points of refutation. About the Author  Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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.]]>

    Change It Up: Your H-1B Transfer Option

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    job, not a new visa. Once your visa is approved, you can take as much time as you want between ending your current job and beginning your new job. How much time you take and what you do with this time is entirely up to you. Some people take this opportunity to travel or visit family. Others dive right into their new job. You can’t just change jobs without alerting the USCIS. Just like all other visa-related processes, you will have to petition the USCIS for an H-1b transfer. This process takes about 4-8 weeks, but can take more. In this petition, you’ll need to include your last three pay stubs, copies of your immigration paperwork, as well as copies of your educational documents. If your specialized degree is from a country besides the US, you will need to submit a credential evaluation along with your documents to clearly show the value of your education in terms of US academic structures and standards. Don’t submit educational documents without first getting them translated into English and evaluated for US academic equivalence. Don’t stick it out with a job you hate when you can find fulfillment in your dream job. The hard part is over, you’ve got your H-1b visa status. Now make the most of it. Sheila Danzig is the director of Career Consulting International at www.TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credential evaluation agency. They specialize in difficult cases and RFEs, Denials, NOIDs, 3-year degrees, etc. and offer a free review of all H1B, E2, and I140 education at http://www.ccifree.com/.]]>

    ALERT: Attorneys and Employers Be on the Lookout for False Translations

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    kandidat naouk, which is generally the equivalent of a US doctorate cannot be TRANSLATED as a doctorate degree or a PhD. In the US, we know that a CPA is not a degree title. The title Certified Public Accountant is a professional title. The same is true for the CA (Chartered Accountants) in Canada. However, in India, the CA is actually equivalent to a degree in India, but this cannot be translated. It must be carefully evaluated based on academic content and legal precedents. Words must be translated, and credentials must be evaluated. These are two completely different processes and to combine them is both dangerous and misleading. The solution to this is for the translator to always translate the literal words without making an educational value assessment. Leave that to a credential evaluation agency. To get an accurate evaluation that will not mislead employers and not leave visa candidates out of luck when the USCIS questions the credibility of their credential evaluator, keep this a two-step process. You would never hire a credential evaluation agency to translate documents. Do not hire a translation agency to discern academic equivalencies. Bear in mind that not all credential evaluation agencies have evaluators qualified to assess equivalency with accuracy either. In fact, we are seeing more and more Requests For Evidence inquiring into the credibility of credential evaluation agencies. Not all credential evaluators have the expertise to write accurate evaluations, and not all agencies have the authority to make the necessary conversions to prove equivalence. When you and your client or employee are looking for the right agency to hire to write a credential evaluation, here are three things to keep in mind:

    1. When you talk with an agency, ask about the credentials, experience, and expertise of the person who will be writing the evaluation. If the agency will not discuss this with you, look elsewhere. A credential evaluator should at minimum hold a degree in higher education that includes significant study in international education systems, or have extensive experience working in university admissions. Working in admissions gives evaluators first hand knowledge and experience with how foreign degrees are valued in the eyes of the universities and graduate programs the evaluation will be written for.
    1. Higher cost does not directly translate into higher quality when it comes to credential evaluations. In fact, it’s the credible evaluation agencies that typically offer inexpensive services. If an agency requests a large payment up front before they are willing to discuss your case, look elsewhere. If they charge exorbitant prices, look elsewhere.
    1. Many evaluation agencies are members of professional bodies and trade associations. Evaluation agencies are not required to be members in organizations such as these, although many are. While membership may make an agency look more official and credible, do not base your decision on these associations. Membership does not make for a meaningful assessment of an agency’s product.
    1. Beware evaluation mills. Some evaluators will just rubber-stamp whatever equivalency is asked for. This is misleading for employers and will certainly land your client or employee an RFE come visa petition time. How can you avoid this? When you talk to a potential evaluation agency, ask about their evaluation policies. This will show you whether or not they are prepared to tailor their services to your client or employee’s individual situation.
    Look for a credential evaluation agency that is forthcoming with the qualifications of their evaluators, and that will address your client or your employee’s unique situation. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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. Mention that you saw this in the ILW article and get 72 hour rush service at no charge.  ]]>

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