Sheila Danzig

Green Card processing is a long and frustrating process, notorious for excessive wait times that can last decades.  In 2021, only 65,452 family preference Green Cards were issued of the 226,000 available Green Cards.  In May of this year, the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders recommended steps to USCIS to reduce the Green Card backlog, which was voted for unanimously.

Recommendations would reduce processing time for family-based green cards, DACA renewals, and other Green Card applications to within six months.

Of course, this would require a near-complete overhaul of the existing system.  Establishing new timeline goals, streamlining processes, removing repeating steps, and automating manual approval mechanisms are included in these recommendations.  Additionally, USCIS must improve internal reporting systems and dashboards.  Internal processes by which USCIS processes Green Cards need to be reworked and additional officers must be hired.

The initiative is proposed to take effect starting August 2022, with the goal of increasing interview processing by 100% and expanding Green Card interviews and decisions by 150% in the first three months.

The system is far overdue for this much-needed overhaul.  We will continue to follow how these recommendations impact actual visa processing times. 

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the director of CCI TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

If you submitted an H-1B petition and have not received a response, you are not alone.  USCIS has announced they are experiencing backlogs and staffing shortages.  In an effort to move the adjudication process along, they will be transferring certain petitions from the Vermont Service Center to the California Service Center.

In addition to processing cap-subject petitions, adjudicators are also processing petitions for H-1B extensions, which are essential for current H-1B workers to be able to continue to work in the United States.

Alongside processing delays, this month the issue of needing more annual H-1B visas was brought before the Senate Judiciary Committee by US Congresswoman Mia Love.  She stated, “in 2005, 85,000 visas were available.  Today, nearly 20 years later, 85,000 visas are available.  There are many promising options for expanding skilled immigration.” 

The need for expanding the H-1B program is nothing new, but hopefully there will be some movement on the issue.  This year, USCIS received 483,927 H-1B registrations.  Of those registrations, 127,600 were initially selected to file complete petitions to fulfill the 85,000 H-1B visas.  United States technology industry has become dependent on the H-1B visa program due to the shortage of US workers with advanced technology skills to accommodate this rapidly growing field.  Companies attempted to hire nearly one-half million foreign workers for FY2023.  The need for H-1B program expansion is clear; what is unclear is how much longer it will take to actually expand the program.

If your H-1B registration was selected in the lottery and you have not submitted a completed petition yet, do not delay!  Registrations are due June 30, 2022.  However, don’t let the pressure of the deadline cause you to submit a petition lacking in vital supporting evidence, such as a credential evaluation or expert opinion letter.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we offer affordable rush delivery options around the clock to meet your needs.

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.

At the end of March, 115,217 of the over 300,000 H-1B electronic registrants were selected to file complete petitions by June 30, 2022.  That deadline is coming right up!  Don’t let the pressure stand in the way of filing an airtight petition that covers common approval issues which can lead to Denials, RFEs, and delayed employee start dates.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we offer affordable rush delivery options for expert opinion letters and credential evaluations.  These two additional components are essential to preventing specialty occupation, wage level, and education issues. 

An expert opinion letter written by an expert in the field of the H-1B job with extensive field experience who has held leadership positions within the field can address specialty occupation and wage level issues.  USCIS has been wary to outright approve visas for jobs that normally but do not ALWAYS require a bachelor’s degree or higher minimum educational requirement in the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook.  USCIS has also called level one wages into question.  An expert opinion letter can address both of these issues before any adjudication problems arise.

A credential evaluation written uniquely to address the beneficiary’s education, training, and work experience, the job, H-1B requirements, and USCIS approval trends is key to filling in any gaps between the education the H-1B beneficiary has and the educational value needed for USCIS to approve the visa.  If the education is ANYTHING BUT a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job a credential evaluation is needed to show the beneficiary has the required degree’s educational equivalent in terms of US academic value.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with difficult H-1B cases every year and understand the need for speed when it comes down to the wire.  We offer a range of affordable rush delivery options to accommodate your filing schedule.  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.

Filing period is well underway for the 127,600 H-1B registrants selected in the first lottery of FY2023.  This March, USCIS received 483,927 electronic registrations, significantly increased from the 308,613 registrations submitted last year. 

A larger number of registrations were selected in the lottery this year, as FY2022 required three rounds of lotteries to meet the annual H-1B visa cap.  However, this higher number of selections may indicate a higher RFE and Denial rate is on the horizon.  If your visa, or if your employee or client’s visa is not approved outright, that means more time, more money, more headache, and possibly a delayed employee start date resulting in workflow hindrances. 

Education issues are perennial problems H-1B applicants face.  The following situations regarding the beneficiary’s education are likely to trigger adjudication issues:

• Degree earned outside of the United States
• Three-year bachelor’s degree
• Degree earned from an unaccredited institution
• Incomplete college
• No college
• Generalized degree – no specialization
• Specialized degree but in a field that is not related to the H-1B job
• Specialized degree in a field related to the H-1B job, but not an exact match

If any of these educational situations apply, you need to show USCIS that the beneficiary has the academic equivalent to a US bachelor’s degree in the field of the H-1B job in terms of US academic value.  You must do this in the initial petition filing to prevent education issues standing in between the H-1B employee and their visa.

Here’s how:

Include a credential evaluation in the petition written to uniquely address the beneficiary’s education, training, and work experience, the H-1B job, H-1B eligibility requirements, and USCIS approval trends.  This means evaluating college course content, non-collegiate professional training, and progressive work.  Progressive work experience is work in which education occurred on the job as evidenced by the beneficiary taking on progressively more specialized duties and responsibilities as time progressed.  USCIS accepts that three years of progressive work experience is the equivalent of one year of college credit in the major of the job.  That means missing years of college can be accounted for with a work experience conversion.  This conversion must be written by a professor authorized to grant college credit for work experience. 

Through detailed analysis of coursework, work experience conversion, and citation of precedent decisions and other supporting documentation, a credential evaluation will effectively hold USCIS’ hand and walk them through the academic value of the beneficiary’s education and work experience.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with professors authorized to grant college credit for work experience, and each credential evaluation is written uniquely to fit the situation.  Let us review your case for free to identify any education issues and address them effectively BEFORE you file.

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.

For those selected in the H-1B lottery, it is time to start filing completed petitions.  That means it is time to anticipate likely hurdles to outright approval based on USCIS adjudication trends.

One common complex RFE we have been seeing over the past few years is the Double RFE.  We expect this one to be a common issue again this year since legislation proposing to change eligibility and selection order surrounding specialty occupation and wage level components is still on the table. 

Here is what you need to know about the Double RFE:

1. USCIS assumes that if a job is set at Level One Wages it is an entry level position.
2. If the entry level position’s entry in the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook states that the position does not ALWAYS require a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree to perform, USCIS will state it does not meet Specialty Occupation requirements.

The way the RFE is structured, petitioners must defend that the H-1B beneficiary is being paid the prevailing wage, and that the job is a specialty occupation.

This situation is unfortunately common for recent college graduates who have the advanced degree but little or no work experience and thus require a higher level of training and supervision.  These are factors that play into the wage level.  Additionally, while Specialty Occupations are definitionally jobs that NORMALLY require a bachelor’s degree or higher, USCIS has been consistently adjudicating in terms of ALWAYS rather than NORMALLY effectively making the exception the rule.

Here is how we answer this RFE:

1. Include a detailed breakdown of the factors that went into setting the wage level appropriately, including documentation of prevailing wage.
2. Provide a detailed breakdown of the specialized duties and responsibilities of the job and how attainment of an advanced degree in the field of the H-1B job directly apply.
3. Provide evidence of past hiring practices showing this position requires a bachelor’s degree minimum.
4. Provide documentation of hiring practices for this position for similar employers in the industry showing the bachelor’s degree minimum requirement consistently.
5. Include an expert opinion letter written by an expert in the field of the H-1B job with extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job, with leadership experience wherein they made hiring decisions regarding this position.  This letter should address both the wage level and the specialty occupation justifications.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with experts in every H-1B field.  Our strategy works for both preventing and answering the Double RFE.

Let us review your case for free before you file.  Visit www.ccifree.com and 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.

USCIS announced that on March 29, 2022 the H-1B lottery for cap-subject annual visas was complete and those selected had been notified.  Petitioners selected have 90 days from notification to file complete H-1B petitions.  If your registration, or if your employee or client’s registration was selected, there is no time to waste.  While denial rates have dropped, H-1B petitioners are not off the hook.  Even last year, we saw high levels of RFEs that petitioners had to answer before visa approval, in some cases pushing back employee start dates and interrupting employer workflow.

If your registration, or if your employee or client’s registration was not selected, there is a significant chance you will get another shot.  Last fiscal year, there were three rounds of H-1B lotteries to fill all 65,000 regular cap and 20,000 advanced degree cap visa slots.  Under this new system, those selected in the lottery have 90 days to file complete petitions, and it turns out they are not always doing so.  

Don’t let the clock tick down before you start organizing the petition.   Always file a COMPLETE petition, in order, with all documents double-checked for accuracy and consistency.  If the beneficiary has ANYTHING EXCEPT a bachelor’s degree or higher from a US academic institution in the exact field of the H-1B job, you must include a credential evaluation written uniquely to fit the situation or risk non-approval.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with difficult education situations every year.  Each evaluation is written uniquely to take the job, the education, work experience, visa eligibility and USCIS approval trends into account to fill in any gaps between the education the beneficiary has and the education the beneficiary needs.

If the H-1B job normally but NOT ALWAYS requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher to perform, you will need to include an expert opinion letter to strengthen the case that this specific position ALWAYS requires this minimum education to perform.  In addition, include the ad for the job showing the minimum degree requirement, proof of past hiring practices showing the minimum degree requirement, and a breakdown of the specialized skills and knowledge required to perform this job learned through completion of an advanced degree program.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with experts in all H-1B fields who have the credentials USCIS will accept as valid.  That means they have extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job including in positions of leadership where they made hiring decisions regarding the position in question.

We anticipate wage level and employer-employee relationship issues will reemerge this year as petitions are adjudicated.  Changes to these two eligibility requirements were proposed during the Trump Administration and continue to be under consideration during the Biden Administration that threaten to destabilize the H-1B program.  It is through filing petitions and fighting for visa approval that the health of the H-1B program, and in consequence, the economic health of the United States – can persevere and thrive.

Let us review your case for free before you file.  Visit www.ccifree.com and 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.

The period for electronic registration for H-1B visas for FY2023 closed on March 18^th.  With the annual cap of 65,000 regular visas and 20,000 additional advanced degree visas met, USCIS now conducts a randomized lottery and those selected will be notified starting March 31^st.  Those selected will be invited to file complete H-1B petitions.

We are in the midst of the waiting period.  What can we do?

If selected, petitioners will have 90 days to file.  However, this filing can become a long, complex process and even though the Denial rate is down, RFEs are still common hang-ups for H-1B petitioners.  In recent years, we have seen as many as three rounds of RFEs before visa approval, delaying work start dates and hindering employer workflow. 

Now is a good time to get all your ducks in a row and prepare to file.  It is time to look over the case in search of areas of weakness and red flags:

• Degrees earned outside of the United States
• Incomplete college, degree that does not match the H-1B job, or no college
• Level One Wages
• Computer Programmer or any other job that NORMALLY but doesn’t always require a minimum bachelor’s degree attainment
• Work performed at a third-party worksite
• Beneficiary is a consultant or works on a per-project basis

Education issues will require a detailed credential evaluation that takes the job, the education, the visa requirements, and the beneficiary’s past work experience into account to fill in any gaps between the education the beneficiary has and the exact degree USCIS will approve.  Specialty occupation and wage level issues can be addressed with an expert opinion letter written by an expert with extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job.  Employer-employee relationship issues require an itinerary for the work the beneficiary will perform for the duration of the visa period and evidence as to how the employer will be able to control the employee’s work offsite.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with difficult cases every year, and know how to successfully prevent RFEs and Denials.  We work with experts in all H-1B fields, and all of our credential evaluations are written uniquely to fit each client’s situation.  We offer consulting services to ensure that you have all your bases covered before you file.

Take this week to 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.

USCIS began accepting cap-subject H-1B electronic registrations on March 1^st and will continue to accept them until March 18^th.  In this time, petitioners planning to sponsor H-1B employees for FY2022 can submit one electronic registration per employee for a fee of $10 through the myUSCIS online portal.  Those selected to submit complete petitions will be notified on March 31^st. 

That means it’s time for employers to get every potential H-1B employee registered.  Even at this stage before the lottery, it is important to be aware of any issues that may arise come filing time.

• Education Issues – the employee must hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent in the exact field of the H-1B job.  This is a blend of H-1B requirements and the USCIS approval trend that degrees in fields not exactly matching the H-1B job receive RFEs rather than approvals.
• Specialty Occupation Issues – Trump-era adjudication trends still persist even though the denial rate has dropped.  Proposed changes to H-1B rules still influence adjudication trends even if they are not yet written into law.  In regards to Specialty Occupation, previously for a job to qualify it must normally require a bachelor’s degree minimum to be hired.  USCIS began adjudicating the qualifier as ALWAYS, making the exception the norm.  Computer programmers were hit especially hard by this trend.
• Employer-Employee Relationship Issues – this is another issue influenced by Trump-era adjudication trends and in current proposed legislation that continue to influence USCIS approval trends.  If the H-1B employee is working as a consultant, or for a company that contracts work offsite, any gaps in work for the duration of the three-year visa period and any work conducted at a third-party worksite raise red flags.

If the case includes any of these situations, it is never too early to start working with your team to identify solutions.   Find the weaknesses and red flags in the case and address them with additional evidence and documentation before USCIS adjudicators do.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult cases every year.  We know what triggers RFEs and Denials, and we know what additional steps to take to prevent them.  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.

H-1B cap-subject registration season for FY2023 is open and runs through noon Eastern Time on March 18^th.  During this time period, petitioners can register beneficiaries electronically through the myUSCIS portal for $10/registration.  The number of registrations submitted is virtually guaranteed to exceed the allotted annual H-1B visas available, in which case there will be a randomized lottery to select registrations to file complete petitions. 

20,000 masters cap petitions will be selected first, then those who meet master’s cap requirements not selected will have a second chance to be selected for the remaining 65,000 visas in the regular cap lottery.  That means if the beneficiary qualifies for the master’s cap, they have a leg up in being selected.

Who qualifies for the master’s cap? 

Master’s cap educational requirements are much stricter than for the regular cap.  The beneficiary hold a master’s degree or higher from a US academic institution.  The institution must be nonprofit or public – for-profit colleges and universities do not count.  The institution must be accredited or have pre-accreditation status.  That means credential evaluation strategies that work for regular cap petitions do not work to meet master’s cap eligibility requirements.

Beneficiaries in the process of completing a master’s degree may still be eligible for the master’s cap.  While the complete petition cannot be filed until the degree has been attained, those selected will have 90 days to file starting April 1, 2022.  That means so long as the beneficiary completes the advanced degree program by the end of June they can still register under the master’s cap.

This is the same for beneficiaries who will complete their bachelor’s degree program before the end of June 2022 in terms of the regular H-1B cap.

Education issues are perennial RFE triggers when it comes to cap-subject H-1B petitions.  The good news is that education issues are relatively simple to prevent.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult education cases every year.  We know the red flags and we know how to fix them in the initial petition before they become adjudication issues. 

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.

The countdown has begun.  H-1B registration opens at noon Eastern Time on March 1, 2021 and runs through March 18^th at noon Eastern Time.  FY2023 petitioners must file separate registrations for each H-1B employee through the myUSCIS online registration system for a fee of $10 per beneficiary.  If the H-1B cap is met by March 18^th, which is almost guaranteed to occur, there will be a lottery and those selected will be notified by March 31^st.  If selected, petitioners can then submit completed petitions.

Last year, over 300,000 registrations were submitted and at the same time the denial rate dropped from 13% to 4%.  However, this does not take the RFE rate into account.  Just because petitions are being denied at lower rates does not mean petitioners are out of the woods.  Many had to go through up to three rounds of justifying their case before visa approval due to restrictions of the H-1B program.  Beneficiaries targeted by the previous administration’s H-1B restrictions still face the same strict USCIS approval trends.

While petitioners won’t find out if they will have to submit completed petitions until March 31^st, it is important to consider the potential challenges facing H-1B employees should their registration be selected.

Potentially challenging H-1B cases include:

• Computer programmers making level one wages are at risk of specialty occupation issues because entry level computer programming positions NORMALLY but NOT ALWAYS require a bachelor’s degree. 
• Other occupations the NORMALLY but NOT ALWAYS require a bachelor’s degree are also at risk of specialty occupation issues.
• Beneficiaries making level one wages.
• Employees who work at third-party worksites.
• Employees who work for firms that take on clients and do not have a complete itinerary of the work to be performed for the duration of the visa.
• Beneficiaries with degrees earned outside of the United States.
• Beneficiaries with incomplete college or no college.
• Beneficiaries with generalized degrees or in degrees in a major that does not match the H-1B job.

These cases are at risk because current proposed rules seek to limit the scope of what constitutes a specialty occupation and the employer-employee relationship and give preference to the highest wage-earners.  Education issues are perennial RFE and Denial triggers we see every year that crop up when the beneficiary has anything except a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job. 

The best way to answer RFEs and Denials is to prevent them in the first place, and that means anticipating red flags at the early stages of the petition process.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult cases every year.  We know what triggers Denials and RFEs and we know what additional evidence and documentation is needed to strengthen cases to prevent these situations.

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.