At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult RFEs every year. These are RFEs that call more than one aspect of the petition into question. On the simple end, it is wage level and specialty occupation rolled into one complicated issue. On the other end is the Nightmare RFE that is nearly impossible to answer by its own guidelines.
The first step to answering a complex RFE is to read it through with your team, and then put it down and go back to the original H-1B eligibility requirements. Go back to your case and see which requirements need fortification and who on the team is responsible for providing additional evidence and documentation for this.
For example, if there are education issues, make sure that the beneficiary’s degree has the US academic value they claim it does. If the education is from outside of the United States, a credential evaluation is needed to clearly show that its US academic equivalency meets H-1B eligibility requirements, meaning a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree or higher depending on the educational requirements of the job. If the degree is anything except a US degree in the exact field of the H-1B job, including a three-year degree, or incomplete or missing college, a credential evaluation is needed. These evaluations must be written to uniquely to fit the job, the education, the visa, and USCIS approval trends, and may require a progressive work experience conversion.
If the issue is specialty occupation or wage level, the employer must provide evidence as to why the duties and responsibilities of this particular job require an advanced degree to perform. This includes documentation of past hiring practices and hiring practices for the same position in parallel companies within the industry. With wage level, the employer must clearly show why the wage level was set as it is and that it meets the prevailing wage requirement. An expert opinion letter written by a professional in the field of the H-1B job with extensive field experience and leadership roles including making hiring decisions regarding this position and supporting positions is needed to overturn this RFE.
Employer-employee relationship issues have become increasingly common. The employer must show that the employee will have work for the duration of the visa, and that the employer will be able to control this work, even at third-party worksites. This means including a complete itinerary of the work to be performed by the H-1B employee for the three years of the H-1B visa, including client and customer contact information, and how oversite will work at third-party worksites.
Before you file your RFE response, let our experts at CCI TheDegreePeople.com review your case for free to identify areas of weakness and offer 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.