Sheila Danzig

There are many pathways through education and they don’t all include the classroom.  However, USCIS needs a clear quantitative measure of qualitative learning – whether it’s on the job, from incomplete college, or from an unaccredited program.

H-1B beneficiaries that have the specialized skills and knowledge necessary to perform the specialty occupation but do not have a completed four-year bachelor’s degree should not file without taking additional steps.  It is essential to find out whether or not the school the degree was earned at is accredited or not.  Oddly enough, it is common for H-1B applicants to think their school is accredited only to find out it is not.  If either of these three situations applies to your employee or client, the best way to prevent this RFE is to include a credential evaluation with a work experience conversion in the initial petition. 

This credential evaluation must prove a clear equivalency to a four-year US bachelor’s degree in the field of the H-1B job.  A professor authorized to grant college credit for work experience can write an evaluation that converts three years of progressive work experience into one year of college credit.  Progressive work experience means that education occurred on the job as evidenced by the applicant having taken on progressively more complex work and more responsibility over the duration of the work experience.  It may take up to twelve years of progressive work experience to make this equivalency work.  Credits earned can also be applied to the equivalency. 

If your employee or client received an RFE or Denial for any of these three education issues, a customized credential evaluation that takes work experience and earned college credits, along with the job, H-1B eligibility requirements, and USCIS approval trends into consideration can get it overturned.

At CCI, TheDegreePeople.com, we work with professors who can issue college credit for work experience to write unique credential evaluations tailored to fill in any gaps between the beneficiary’s education and the correct degree and specialization for the H-1B job.

For a free review of your case visit ccifree.com or reply to this email.  We will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

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

When USCIS finds one issue in an H-1B petition, they tend to find more.  That’s because an RFE issue raises a red flag that triggers a close scrutiny of the rest of the petition.  The most common Double RFE we see is the Specialty Occupation + Wage Level Issue RFE.

In this case, Wage Level tends to trigger Specialty Occupation, and this Double RFE has hit computer programmers the hardest.  Here’s how it works:  USCIS sees that the job is set at level one wages, and so they assume that it is an entry level position.  Then, they go to the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook and read the passage for the entry level position.  Often, these entry level positions NORMALLY require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree to be hired, but NOT ALWAYS.

USCIS has been caught illegally adjudicating specialty occupation based on “ALWAYS” instead of what the regulation actually, reads, which is “NORMALLY,” thereby making the exception the rule of determination.  This makes H-1B employees starting at level one wages especially vulnerable to the Double RFE.

If you, or if your employee or client is at this wage level – ESPECIALLY if the job is computer programmer – you need to make it very clear that the wage level is set appropriately.  Explain all of the factors that went into the wage level determination, along with the wage level for the same position at different companies in the industry and geographical location of the H-1B job.  You also must be clear that the job requires theoretical and practical application of skills and knowledge learned in a bachelor’s degree program in the field of the H-1B job. 

Along with this additional documentation, include an expert opinion letter written by a professional with extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job.  This expert should have experience hiring employees to the position in question.  This letter can address both specialty occupation and wage level issues.  You must provide as much evidence and documentation as possible so the expert can write a strong letter to lend authority to your case.

At CCI, TheDegreePeople.com, we work with experts in all H-1B fields to write the letters applicants need to address these issues before they turn into RFEs.  Applicants that come to us for case reviews and expert letters for their initial petition do not come back with a Double RFE.  At the same time, we have seen that Double RFEs are successfully answered over 90% of the time with this added documentation and expert opinion letter included in the response. 

USCIS faced litigation last year, which included three separate judicial rulings against them for wrongly denying H-1B visas.  USCIS knows that these petitions may end up in front of judges.  When you file the initial petition or RFE response, make sure it is air-tight and clearly shows that H-1B eligibility requirements are met, and taking USCIS adjudication trends into account. 

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 executive 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 usually find more.  One RFE issue opens the door for close scrutiny of the entire case, and that is how we get situations like the Nightmare RFE.

This RFE is virtually impossible to answer by its own guidelines in the given timeframe and includes absolutely everything.  That’s why this RFE is also called the Kitchen Sink.  How can beneficiaries answer an RFE like this?

The answer is to not get caught up in the wording, but instead go back to the original H-1B eligibility guidelines and work from the ground up based on the guidelines themselves and USIS approval trends.  This means strengthening all areas of the case with additional evidence and documentation to address employer-employee, wage level, and specialty occupation issues.  Include a credential evaluation that closes any gaps between the H-1B beneficiary’s education and the H-1B job, and include an expert opinion letter that strengthens specialty occupation and wage level areas.  For consulting firms and similar companies, include a complete itinerary of the H-1B employee’s work for the entire three-year duration of the visa, along with client contact information.

The more information you can provide in the initial petition, the better chance you have of preventing the Nightmare RFE.  That means including an expert opinion letter, credential evaluation, and work itinerary in the initial petition.  It is essential to keep an eye on USCIS approval trends when crafting the initial petition.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we pay close attention to USCIS approval trends and advise our clients based on common RFE and Denial triggers.  A strong, clear, and well-documented case is the best defense against the Nightmare RFE.

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 executive director of CCI, TheDegreePeople.com.  Sheila specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

While specialty occupation, wage level, and employer-employee issue RFEs have been all the rage since 2017, the classic 3-Year Degree H-1B RFE has not gone away.  H-1B beneficiaries with 3-year bachelor’s degrees earned outside of the United States consistently receive RFEs and Denials for the missing fourth year of college. 

Even though the Indian 3-year bachelor’s degree has the same – if not greater – amount of classroom contact hours as the US 4-year bachelor’s degree, beneficiaries with this degree are consistently hit the hardest.

If you, or if your employee or client has a 3-year bachelor’s degree, the petition will run into issues virtually every time unless you take the one preventative step that works.  That means submitting a credential evaluation with the initial petition that includes a work experience conversion to account for the missing fourth year of college.  With the evaluation, three years of progressive work experience in the field of the H-1B job can be converted into one year of college credit towards a major in that field provided the evaluation is written by a professor with the authority to issue college credit for work experience.

What is progressive work experience?  For work experience to be considered progressive, it must be shown that throughout the duration of the job, the nature of the beneficiary’s work became increasingly complex with increasingly specialized skills.  This shows that education and professional development occurred on the job. 

The right credential evaluation must take the job, the education, and the nuances of H-1B visa requirements into consideration.  If you call a credential evaluation agency and they do not ask about any one of these three factors, hang up and look elsewhere.

Submitting a credential evaluation with a work experience conversion with the initial petition is the best way to avoid these issues.  If it’s too late and you’ve already received the RFE, including this evaluation and work experience conversion with the response is the best way to get that RFE overturned.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with these cases every year, and our method of writing a credential evaluation with work experience conversion tailored to each beneficiary’s unique situation works virtually every time to get the RFE overturned.

If you, or if your employee or client has a 3-year bachelor’s degree, do not submit that petition or RFE response without the right credential evaluation and work experience conversion.  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 executive director of CCI, TheDegreePeople.com.  She specializes in overturning RFEs and Denials for work visas.

The second quarter of FY2020 brought a slight increase in H-1B RFE rates to 35.8%, which is up 0.5% from FY2019’s second quarter.  By the same comparison, H-1B approval rate jumped up 4% to 87.1%.  The rate of approval following an RFE is 68.2%, which may seem low, but is a 10% increase from this time last year.

Over the course of the past year, there have been three decisive judicial decisions penalizing USCIS illegally denying H-1B visas.  These numbers show us that USCIS is sticking with its strict – and in many cases, illegal – approval trends.  We expect this litigative trend to continue until the RFE rate drops. 

What does this mean for H-1B applicants and their sponsors?  Anticipate common RFEs.  Specialty occupation, wage level, and employer-employee relationships have become some of the most common RFEs since USCIS began misreading their own approval rules. 

Specialty Occupation

USCIS defines a specialty occupation as normally requiring a minimum of a bachelor’s degree to perform.  Since 2017, USCIS has been adjudicating this as ALWAYS instead of NORMALLY, making the exception the rule.  If you have, or if your employee or client has a job that list listen in the Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook as usually but not always requiring this minimum advanced degree, you need to provide additional evidence about the specific job in question.  This evidence must show that specialized skills and understanding is needed and how it is applied in the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of the job.  Along with this, an expert opinion letter is advised to lend authority and analysis to the additional evidence and documentation provided.

Wage Level

H-1B employees with low wage level starting salaries have run into trouble in recent years.  This is because USCIS has been associating level one wages with an entry level position in the adjudication process.  If the entry level position does not always require the employee to have a bachelor’s degree, the petition receives a double RFE for specialty occupation and wage level issues.  To prevent this issue, include a detailed breakdown of the factors that went into setting the wage level to show that it was set appropriately for the position, and set at the prevailing wage.  The same expert opinion letter than can prevent or address the specialty occupation issue can and should incorporate any wage level issues anticipated.

Employer-Employee Relationship

Employers now must prove that there will be work for the H-1B employee throughout the duration of the H-1B visa period of three years.  This can be difficult for consulting firms, which is why in past years this was not a requirement.  Now, petitions that do not have a complete itinerary of projects, clients, and client contact information are receiving employer-employee relationship issue RFEs.  We advise that employers work with their clients to create an itinerary that covers the entire three-year duration and include this with the initial petition. 

While 87.1% of initial petitions were approved in the second quarter of FY2020, only 68.2% of RFEs were overturned.  The best way to beat an RFE is to prevent it.  Do not file without a complete review of your case to see where additional evidence and documentation – including credential evaluations, expert opinion letters, and work itineraries – are needed.

For a free review of your case, visit www.ccifree.com.  We will respond in 4 hours or less.

Sheila Danzig, EdD

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