Sheila Danzig

The easiest way to address an education RFE is to avoid one in the first place.  If you are, or if your employee or client is applying for H-1B visa status, here are three circumstances in which an credential evaluation is essential to preempt any education issues on the road to visa approval:

1. Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree

If the H-1B worker has a three-year bachelor’s degree a credential evaluation is needed to account for the missing fourth year.  This is even the case if the three-year program had the same or greater classroom contact hours than a traditional US four-year program.  A work experience conversion where three years of work experience in the field of the H-1B job is converted into one year of college credit in that degree specialization is needed to account for the missing fourth year.  This conversion can be completed by a professor authorized to grant college credit for work experience.

2. Degree Earned Outside of the United States

An academic credential evaluation must be written to clearly show USCIS what this foreign degree means in terms of US educational standards.  Sometimes the evaluation is straightforward.  Sometimes, a work experience conversion, a close examination of course content, or citing precedent decisions and federal caselaw is needed.

3. Mismatched Degree Specialization

For over five years, USCIS has been issuing education RFEs if the degree specialization is not an exact match for the H-1B job, even if it is in a related field.  This is a problem because employers will hire workers with degrees in related specializations, but then USCIS will not approve their visas.  To address this issue, a detailed credential evaluation is needed to write the equivalent of the required degree in the exact specialization of the H-1B job.  This requires a close look at course content, additional training and education in the field, and often a work experience conversion.

All of these situations require an academic credential evaluation written uniquely to address the beneficiary, the visa, the job, the education, and USCIS approval trends.  Even if the H-1B beneficiary has no college, incomplete college, or a degree from an unaccredited institution, the right evaluation can show how their non-traditional pathway through education has qualified them for the H-1B job in terms of US academic standards.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, all of our credential evaluations are written uniquely by expert evaluators.  We work with professors who have the authority to make work experience conversions.

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.

US District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton upheld the STEM OPT program by the Department of Homeland Security in a lawsuit brought against the department by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers.  This ruling upheld that foreign graduates of accredited US academic institutions with STEM degrees work in the United States for up to three years post-graduation.

This ruling comes with some history and some unlikely characters.  In 2008, DHS enacted the STEM OPT rule which allowed OPT workers with STEM degrees to apply for an additional 17 months of OPT.  The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers sued claiming that this rule exceeded the department’s authority.  The courts upheld the rule but declared that DHS did not meet obligations for notice and comment before codifying the rule.  Ultimately, this backfired from Washington Alliance because in 2016, DHS met notice and comment obligations when it proposed the current STEM OPT rule, which increased the extension to 24 months.

Again, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers sued claiming the rule exceeded the authority of DHS.  Who came out in defense of the rule?  The National Association of Manufacturers, the US Chamber of Commerce, and the Information Technology Industry Council gave their input that the extension program is beneficial to the country’s STEM industries, education system, and economy.  An unlikely suspect – the Trump Administration – also came out in support of the STEM OPT extension.

While the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers is not expected to back down, this is good news for STEM OPT program applicants and the employers that hire them.  To apply for a STEM OPT extension, applicants must be in a valid period of OPT and have earned at least a bachelor’s degree in a STEM specialization from a US Department of Education-recognized accredited academic institution.  Practical training must be directly related to the STEM degree and the employer must meet specific requirements and responsibilities, including the training obligation.

If you are currently in OPT for a non-STEM degree but have earned a STEM degree in the United States, you may still be eligible for the STEM OPT extension, provided that the STEM OPT job is directly related to the STEM degree. 

If you, or if your employee or client is having OPT or STEM OPT issues, 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.

Every year, USCIS rolls out more monster RFEs that are impossible to answer by their own guidelines.  This includes the Nightmare RFE that has everything and its mailman in it and the Triple Threat RFE that calls wage level, specialty occupation, and education into question.  What happens when these two are wrapped up in one?

This nightmare of all nightmare RFEs is a panic attack.  However, the two together is not much different than one or the other.  Since the Nightmare RFE is virtually impossible to answer by its own directions in the timeline provided, a different approach is required, one that addresses all three issues tied in with the Triple Threat.

The key is to put the RFE down and go back to the original H-1B eligibility requirements and work from there.  Make sure that all criteria are met with added evidence and documentation.  If there are multiple ways to meet a requirement – like the specialty occupation requirement – pick two.  Include a credential evaluation filling in any gaps between the beneficiary’s degree and the specific advanced degree required for the position AND the visa.  Include an expert opinion letter covering specialty occupation and wage level issues.  Document the employer-employee relationship, especially if the position is at a consulting firm and ESPECIALLY if the H-1B employee will spend time at third party worksites.  You need to show how the employer will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee even offsite.  Include a complete itinerary of the H-1B employee’s work including contract contacts for the duration of the three-year H-1B visa period.  Make sure all answers are consistent across documents. 

The burden of proof on the petitioner has dramatically increased since 2017.  We are here to help.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with monster RFEs every year with a 96% success rate. 

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.

When USCIS finds one red flag in a petition, that triggers a scrutiny of the entire case which can lead to RFEs that are very difficult to answer.  The Triple Threat RFE can be triggered by wage level specialty occupation, or education issues, and escalates to a monster RFE that calls all three into question.

The trick to answering these difficult RFEs is to go back to the basics and build your case from there.  This can be done in two steps. 

First, include an expert opinion letter written by a professional in the industry of the H-1B job.  This expert must have extensive experience working in the field of the job and making hiring decisions to the position in question and similar positions.  This letter can cover wage level and specialty occupation issues.  Provide the expert as much information as possible about the specific duties and responsibilities of the job, and how the skills and knowledge required are acquired through completion of a bachelor’s degree in the field of the H-1B job.  Also provide the expert with a breakdown of the factors that went into setting the wage level, and documentation of past hiring practices and starting wages that fortify specialty occupation and wage level issues.  The more information you can provide the expert, the better equipped they will be to write a compelling letter that covers both specialty occupation and wage level issues.

Second, include a credential evaluation that takes the job, the beneficiary’s education and work experience, visa requirements, and USCIS approval trends into account.  This evaluation must be uniquely written to fill in any gaps between the education the beneficiary has, and a US bachelor’s degree (or higher, if required by the job) in the exact field of the H-1B job.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with experts in all H-1B fields that have the credentials required for USCIS to accept their opinion.  Our credential evaluators research every evaluation uniquely and tailor it to meet each client’s situation.  With an expert opinion letter and a detailed credential evaluation, and supporting documentation, we have seen a 96% success rate in overturning these difficult RFEs.

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.

With the new H-1B Interim Final Rule, it is more important this year than ever to make sure the H-1B employee’s degree specialization is an EXACT MATCH for the proffered position.

The Interim Final Rule that goes into effect December 2020 narrows the definition of specialty occupation and codifies the way that USCIS has been adjudicating H-1B visa petitions for years now.  The degree must be an exact match for the H-1B job. 

Employers often hire qualified employees with degrees in related majors.  Employers often hire qualified employees with incomplete college, no college, or generalized degrees who instead have years of work experience in the field of the H-1B job.  Employers often hire qualified H-1B employees with degrees in a matching or related specialization earned outside of the United States.  All of these cases require the petitioner to clearly show the equivalency to the correct degree (a US bachelor’s degree or higher) in the exact specialization of the H-1B job through specific course content and work experience.

The way to do this is to include a detailed credential evaluation that fills in any gaps between the degree the beneficiary has and the degree the beneficiary needs for visa approval.  This will take the job, the education, work experience, H-1B requirements, and USCIS approval trends into account.  It often requires a work experience conversion in which three years of progressive work experience in the field of the H-1B job can be converted into one year of college credit in the major of the industry.  This conversion must be written by a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, every credential evaluation is research and written uniquely.  There are no cookie cutter evaluations.  We work with professors with the authority to grant work experience for college credit to write the evaluations our clients need to get their visas approved. 

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.

When USCIS finds one problem with an H-1B petition, they typically find more.  One red flag leads to a close scrutiny of the case and this leads to complex RFEs like the Double, Triple, and Nightmare RFEs. 

The Double RFE that has become overwhelmingly common since 2017 takes issue with wage level and specialty occupation and beneficiaries making level one wages are hit the hardest.  Computer programmers have been particularly vulnerable to this RFE as well. 

Here is the reasoning for this RFE: 

USCIS makes the wrong assumption that because a job is set at level one wages it is an entry level position.  Then, if the entry-level position for the H-1B job does not ALWAYS require a US bachelor’s degree or higher for entry they assume that the job is not a specialty occupation or the wage level is not set at the prevailing wage for the job.  Of course, USCIS does not pick either or for the RFE; they choose both.

Luckily, you can answer both with one expert opinion letter.  The expert must have extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job and have experience making hiring decisions regarding this position and similar positions.  This expert must have a full understanding of the industry and be able to articulate the skills required for this position and how they are obtained through the completion of at least a bachelor’s program.  This expert must also articulate how wage level decisions are made.  The more information the petitioner can provide about the job and the factors that went into determining the wage level for this specific employee the better. 

To answer this RFE, you must show that the wage level was set appropriately for the position and the employee.  This could mean a reduced wage level because college education was recently completed but actual work experience in the field is minimal or non-existent.  You must also show that one of four specialty occupation requirements are met:

1. A US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent in the field of the specialty occupation is a minimum requirement for the position.
2. A US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent in the field of the specialty occupation is the minimum requirement for parallel positions at similar companies in the industry.
3. The employer has a documented past practice of requiring an employee hired to this position to hold a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent.
4. This particular position is uniquely specialized as to require the employee to hold a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent to perform its duties.

This requires a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job, the skills required to perform them, and how these skills are learned through attainment of a US bachelor’s degree in the field of the H-1B job.  We recommend choosing two of these requirements, one of them being the fourth option that show how this position is uniquely specialized in and of itself.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with the RIGHT kind of experts in every H-1B field who can write opinion letters that address both wage level and specialty occupation issues in one letter. 

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.

On March 30, 2020, USCIS announced that due to the COVID-19 crisis, RFE, NOID, and other notice respondents will have a 60-day grace period to file a response following the due date.  That means any response filed within 60 days of the deadline will be considered received by USCIS. 

This grace period has been officially extended through January of 2021 and applies to all RFEs and NOIDs issued between March 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021.  The extended grace period also applies to responses to continuations to request evidence, notices of intent to revoke, Form I-290B filing date requirements, notices of appeal or notice of motion, notices of intent to rescind, and notices of intent to terminate regional investment centers issued between March 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we track USCIS visa approval trends closely and over the past few years we have seen it take as many as three rounds of RFEs to get visa approval.  Since 2017 in particular, this has caused H-1B employees to delay start dates, causing a whole host of problems for the beneficiary and the employer.  For this reason, we do NOT advise making use of this 60-day grace period.  The sooner your response the better.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we offer affordable rush delivery services on expert opinion letters and academic credential evaluations to address employer-employee relationship, wage level, specialty occupation, and education issues with a 96% success rate.  To prevent a second or third round of RFEs, we advise anticipating any weaknesses in the case based on current USCIS approval trends and addressing these issues in the initial petition or first RFE response.

There are no guarantees with USCIS, processes are moving slow this year, and as always with visa approval, time is of the essence.  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.

The rate of RFE responses to H-1B initial petitions held stead from the second quarter of 2019 this year, rising from 35.3% to 35.8% this year.  However, while in 2019 only 58.8% of RFEs were successfully answered, this year 68.2% were approved in the second quarter of 2020.  We at CCI are proud to say that 96% of the RFEs handled by our experts were successfully overturned!

As we await third quarter data, it may be hard to predict approval trends in the fourth quarter because a new regulation is currently under review of the Office of Management and Budget that would codify H-1B restrictions.  However, what we can see is that fighting RFEs works, and H-1B applicants should continue to respond with strong cases for visa approval. 

The proposed regulation may force H-1B employers to restructure their hiring process from the very beginning to ensure compliance with restrictions.  First, those who hire H-1B employers to work at third party sites must show that the employer will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee, even offsite.  In addition, they must provide contracts that show the H-1B employee will have ensured work for the duration of the three-year visa.  Over the past few years, employers have already been forced to due this by new interpretation of unchanged USCIS H-1B eligibility requirements. 

The second change may be harder to address as it has to do with the dreaded specialty occupation issue.  In past years, USCIS has issued RFEs for jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree or higher in ALL cases, making the exception the rule instead of adhering to the verbiage of the regulation, “normally.”  Answering these RFEs has required calling attention to this misinterpretation of the rule.  This new regulation would effectively change “normally” to “always,” and require that the degree specialization is an exact and singular match to the H-1B job.  To address this, employers must show documented past hiring practices, the ad for the job, and past hiring practices of ad jobs for the same position at similar companies that they ALWAYS require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or higher in a specific specialization. 

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with difficult RFEs and USCIS approval trend curveballs every year.  With the help of international education experts, professional experts in all H-1B fields, and experienced credential evaluators, we come up with solutions that work to prevent and answer RFEs and Denials.  We can help you beat the odds.  Don’t file without an expert review of your case to address any weaknesses before USCIS adjudicates the petition or RFE or Denial response.

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. 

Since 2017, H-1B visa applicants have faced specialty occupation and employer-employee relationship issues from USCIS wrongly adjudicating petitions based on the visa’s own eligibility rules.  So far, RFE and Denial responses and court challenges have been successful in overturning these decisions.  Now, a new regulation has been sent for review to the Office of Management and Budget to change the rules to meet their currently illegal decisions.

The two facets of this new regulation could restrict H-1B visa access significantly by fundamentally changing the definition of “specialty occupation,” and restricting the interpretation of “employer-employee relationship” to justify the illegal decisions they have already been making. 

Specialty Occupation

Currently, a specialty occupation is defined as a job that normally requires a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree in a field related to the job to perform.  This new regulation would change normally to always, and require the degree to be in the exact field of the H-1B job.  This is problematic for STEM jobs, especially computer-related jobs as there are many applicable degree specializations and most jobs require a mixture of skills.  For example, many computer-related professions pull employees from two different majors: statistics and computer sciences.  Making H-1B status only available through ONE exclusive degree is not practical for STEM jobs, which is where the bulk of H-1B visas are used.

Employer-Employee Relationship

This part of the regulations restricts H-1B employees working as consultants at third party sites.  The basis of this is that the employer cannot control the employee’s work in a way that meets H-1B eligibility requirements when they are working at a different site.  To meet this new regulation, the employer must provide all contracts for the three-year duration of the H-1B visa to show that the employee has a full work itinerary.  Employers must also show how they will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee at these sites.  In the past, employers did not have to show three fully stocked years of non-speculative work or provide additional evidence as to how they can control the work of the employee off-site.  Over the past few years, to avoid an employer-employee relationship issue, petitions have had to include this complete itinerary.  Now, they will also have to address work control.

There are two good bits of news regarding this new regulation.  First, the implementation of this potential new regulation makes it particularly vulnerable to legal challenge.  The plan is to publish the regulation as an “interim final rule” that will immediately go into effect without public or legislative input.  We are going into this change with the momentum of years of successful RFE and Denial responses, and successful court decisions including the March 31, 2020 Taylor Made Software v. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli ruling, and the March 6, 2020 3Q Digital, Inc. v. USCIS ruling. 

The second is that we have anticipated it for years, and we know how to answer specialty occupation and employer-employee relationship issues.  Codifying what USCIS has already been doing means we will be facing the same issues but without vagueness or surprise.  Every year, we come up with creative solutions to bridge the gaps between USCIS approval trends and the demands of the industries that employ H-1B beneficiaries. 

If your case, or if your employee or client’s case will likely be affected by this new regulation, let us help you.  For a free review of the 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.

RFE rates are still high for H-1B petitions, and processing delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic are making it even harder for employees to get their visas approved to meet their start dates. 

Having to answer one or two – and sometimes as much as three – rounds of RFEs have been pushing back employee start dates and hurting the businesses that employ them for years now.  This problem has been compounded due to social distancing measures in place at USCIS.  If you or your employee or client is filing for H-1B status, avoiding an RFE is more important now than ever.  But how?

1. Include a credential evaluation in the initial petition.

It is essential to clearly show USCIS that the H-1B employee has the correct degree in the correct field of the H-1B job, or its clear equivalent in education and work experience in accordance with US educational standards.  The only situation in which a credential evaluation would NOT be essential is if the employee holds the required degree (which must be a Bachelor’s or higher) earned from an accredited US college or university, in the EXACT field of the H-1B job.  This becomes a problem because employers commonly hire employees with degrees in related fields with work experience directly in the field.  These qualified employees need a credential evaluation, even if the degree was earned at an accredited US institution.

If you, or if your employee or client has incomplete college, no college, unaccredited college, or a degree from outside of the United States, a credential evaluation is needed to prevent an RFE triggered by education issues.  If you, or if your employee or client has a generalized degree, or a degree in a related field that is not an EXACT match for the H-1B job, a credential evaluation is needed to prevent an RFE triggered by education issues.  These evaluations take specific course content and progressive work experience into consideration when writing the credential evaluation to meet the academic requirement, and field specificity requirement.

2. Include an expert opinion letter in the initial petition.

An expert opinion letter that addresses wage level, specialty occupation, and employer-employee relationship issues goes a long way to preventing RFEs triggered by any of these common issues.  Remember, when USCIS finds one red flag in a petition, this usually leads to close scrutiny of the entire petition and can lead to highly complex RFEs that are not easily answered. 

The key to obtaining an EFFECTIVE expert opinion letter is finding someone to write it who has extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job, including positions of leadership and authority. Ideally, this expert has made hiring decisions regarding the H-1B position in question, and therefore can lend an opinion about the complexity of the position, and prerequisites for hiring consideration, as well as an authoritative opinion about the nature of the work, wage level considerations, and the industry.  USCIS will not consider expert opinion letters from those who have only been instructors in the field.  Once you have found your expert, it is on your team to provide them with as much information about the company, the position, visa requirements, and the employee as possible so they can write an impeccable letter specifically applicable to the situation.

3. Proofread for consistent answers and file in order.

Make it easy for the adjudicator to read the petition, include all parts in order, and make sure answers are CONSISTENT across documents.  This includes dates, spelling, names and titles.  Any inconsistencies across documents will trigger a closer scrutiny of the case, which will likely lead to an RFE. Having an outside party review the petition before submission goes a long way to catching any weak points where additional evidence and documentation is needed, or where the case raises questions that should be answered before it ends up on a USCIS adjudicator’s desk.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult cases, RFEs, and Denials every year.  We know what triggers them; we know how to identify weak spots in petitions, and we know what additional evidence and documentation strengthens those weak spots.  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.