Sheila Danzig

Complex RFEs can cause employment start date delays which throw a wrench in overall company workflow.  In recent years, we have seen as many as three rounds of RFEs before visa approval.  If your registration was selected for the second round of the H-1B lottery, it is essential to get that visa approved the FIRST time to ensure an on-time employee start date.

General Housekeeping

Before you file, make sure your completed petition has been double-checked for consistent answers across all forms and supporting evidence and documentation, including employment dates on resumes and correct spelling.  Make sure that the petition organized and readable with everything included in the correct order.

Employer-Employee Relationship

If the H-1B employee will be working at a third-party worksite for any portion of the H-1B visa period, include added evidence to prove that the employer-employee relationship will be maintained throughout.  If the business is a consulting firm or other structure with workflow dependent on client or customer contracts, include an itinerary of the work the H-1B employee will be performing for the duration of the H-1B visa period including client and customer contact information.

Education

H-1B eligibility requirements state that the beneficiary must hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its academic equivalent in a related field, and USCIS has been approving visas based on the degree specialization being an exact match for the field of the H-1B job.  If the degree is in a different specialization, incomplete, or earned outside of the United States, include a detailed credential evaluation that shows the beneficiary has the academic equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the field of the H-1B job.  This may entail a work experience conversion wherein three years of progressive work experience in the field of the H-1B job can be converted into one year of college credit in that field by a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we write every evaluation uniquely to take the education, work experience, job, visa, and USCIS approval trends into account.  We work with professors with the authority to write work experience conversions as needed.

Specialty Occupation

H-1B eligibility requirements state that the proffered position must normally require a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent as a minimum educational requirement for being hired to the position.  However, USCIS has been adjudicating “normally” as “always,” so jobs that do not ALWAYS have this minimum degree requirement according to the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook have been running into trouble.  If this is the case for your situation, you will need to prove one or more of the following:

1. The position in question is uniquely specialized to require minimum attainment of a bachelor’s degree or higher in the field of the H-1B job.  Again, a related field will not work for USCIS approval trends.
2. The employer can show past hiring practices of this minimum educational qualification for the position in question.
3. It is an industry standard that this position requires a bachelor’s degree or higher minimum educational qualification.

This will require additional documentation including the ad for the job and ads for the same position for different companies within the industry to prove industry standard.  Additionally, include evidence of past hiring practices and a detailed breakdown of the specialized duties and responsibilities of the job which are attained through completion of a US bachelor’s degree program in the field.  Finally, include an expert opinion letter written by an expert in the field of the H-1B job with extensive experience working in the field, including leadership positions and experience making hiring decisions regarding the proffered position.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with experts in every field ready to lend their professional opinion to your case. 

Before you file, make sure all red flags and areas of weakness in your case are identified and addressed to ensure approval and avoid time-consuming, stressful, and costly RFEs. 

Let us review your case for free.  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.

This is the second year the H-1B lottery has been conducted as a two-step process, with an initial electronic registration and subsequent selection and invitation to submit completed petitions.  On March 30^th 2021, USCIS conducted the first lottery, selecting 87,500 registrations to fill 85,000 H-1B visa slots.  Applicants in the first round had until June 30^th, 2021 to submit.  Only 37,000 did so, and around 48% of those submission were for the US Master’s quota, not the regular cap.

On July 29^th, 2021, USCIS selected 27,717 additional registrations to submit completed petitions starting August 2^nd until November 3, 2021.  If your team’s registration was selected in round two, there is no reason to wait until the last minute to submit and delay the employee start date for FY 2022, especially since RFEs are still a major hurdle facing petitioners and their beneficiaries.

Before you file, make sure you have an airtight petition that meets all H-1B eligibility requirements and takes USCIS approval trends into account:

• Degrees earned outside of the United States, three-year bachelor’s degrees, incomplete college, missing college, and degrees earned in specializations that are not an exact fit for the H-1B job field all need credential evaluations to fill in the gaps between the education the beneficiary has and the education USCIS will approve.  This means a unique evaluation that takes progressive work experience into account to be converted into college credit.

• If the job does not ALWAYS require a US bachelor’s degree or higher to perform, include additional evidence as to why this particular position for this particular employer meets specialty occupation requirements.  This must include an expert opinion letter written by an expert with extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job, and preferably has experience making hiring decisions regarding the position in question.

• If the job is for a consulting firm, or another business structure that contracts work from third parties, or entails the H-1B employee spending time at third-party worksites, include a complete itinerary of the work the H-1B employee will be performing – including client and customer contact information – for the duration of the H-1B visa period.  Document how the employer will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee even at third-party worksites.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with difficult RFE cases every year, and these are the three main triggers for complex RFEs that quickly escalate into a big, expensive, time-consuming headache.  The best way to address RFE issues is to prevent them in the first place.  Let us review your case for free before you file to identify areas of weakness and advise solutions.

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.

In a normal year, there are 140,000 Employment-Based Green Cards available.  However, 2020 was not a normal year and over 150,000 relatives of US citizens and green card holders were unable to immigrate because US Embassies abroad were closed due to the pandemic.  Ever year, there is a 226,000 family-based green card quota.  If this is not reached, these remaining number rolls over into employment-based green cards available for the following year.  That means, starting October 1, 2021, there will be over 290,000 employment-based green cards available, more than doubling what is available in a normal year.

This is great news for employers and foreign employees.  Employment based green card holders have permanent resident status.  They can travel freely both within and outside of the United States, their spouses and unmarried children under 21 are eligible to work in the United States, and their children can access the US school system.

Employment based green cards break down into five preference sections:

USCIS defines EB-1 workers as those with, “extraordinary abilities in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; Outstanding professors and researchers; or Certain multinational managers and executives.

EB-2 workers are professionals that work jobs that require attainment of a US Master’s degree or higher or its equivalent or have a National Interest Waiver, and EB-3 workers are skilled, unskilled, or other professionals.  EB-4 and EB-5 are less common categories.  EB-4 includes a variety of special immigrants, and EB-5 are immigrant investors.

If you or if your employee or client meets Employment Based Green Card eligibility requirements, this is the year to apply. 

For a free review of your case visit www.ccifree.com before you file.  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 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.

Electronic registration for the H-1B lottery closes at noon TOMORROW March 25^th Eastern Time.  Those selected will be notified starting March 31^st after which they will have 90 days to file completed H-1B petitions.

Don’t use up those 90 days.  Over the past few years, we have seen up to three rounds of RFEs before visa approval.  This has delayed employee start dates and in turn delayed company workflow.  Get ready to file now and get ready to anticipate any bumps in the road to approval.

Specialty occupation RFEs have plagued applicants working borderline occupations that normally require a US bachelor’s degree or higher for entry into the position with some exceptions.  USCIS began adjudicating these cases making the exception the norm, which USCIS under the Trump administration attempted to codify.  With the change of presidential administration, it is unclear whether USCIS approval trends will change with it.  For this reason, we advise all H-1B petitioners filing for borderline occupations – particularly computer programmers – to include additional documentation to show that the job meets specialty occupation requirements.

1. Include proof of past employer hiring practices showing that a bachelor’s degree has always been a minimum requirement for the job.
2. Include a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job to show specialized skills and knowledge learned through an advanced degree program are required.
3. Include an expert opinion letter written by a professional with at least a decade of experience working in the FIELD of the H-1B job who has made hiring decisions regarding the H-1B position and supporting positions to lend credibility to your case.

You don’t have to wait until next week to get to work on your petition.  It is important to understand the potential vulnerabilities of your case in order to build a bullet-proof petition the FIRST time.  Get a jump on the season and let us review your case FOR FREE.  Visit www.ccifree.com for a free consultation.  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 new rules going into effect that may or may not last until the H-1B cap-subject filing season, it is more important than ever for H-1B applicants to take precautionary measures to prevent RFEs.

Over the past few years, we have seen up to three rounds of RFEs before visa approval.  This has caused H-1B employees to miss their work start dates and delay the sponsor’s workflow.  To prevent this, it is essential to make sure it is absolutely clear to USCIS that the beneficiary, the job, the education, and the terms of employment are in strict alignment with H-1B eligibility requirements.

Include an expert opinion letter.

An expert opinion letter written by a professional with extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job and making hiring decisions can fortify wage level and specialty occupation aspects of the case.  It is essential to explain why the wage level is set appropriately, and why the H-1B job meets specialty occupation requirements – meaning a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree is required for entry into the position.

Include a credential evaluation.

If the beneficiary’s degree was earned outside of the United States – especially if it is a three-year bachelor’s degree – you will need to include a credential evaluation to translate its academic value into US educational standards.  If the degree is in a major that is not an EXACT match for the H-1B job, a credential evaluation that shows the beneficiary has the educational experience equivalent of the needed degree in the exact field of the H-1B job is needed.  If the beneficiary has no college, incomplete college, or a degree from an unaccredited institution, a credential evaluation is needed to convert years of progressive work experience into years of college credit in the major of the H-1B job. 

Include a complete itinerary of the work to be performed for the duration of the visa.

H-1B employees who will be working at third-party worksites or working for a consulting firm will need to show that there will be work throughout the visa duration, and that the employer will be able to control this work.  Include a schedule of the work to be performed, along with client names and contact information.  Include a copy of the employee contract along with an explanation of how the employer will control the work of the H-1B employee even when working offsite.

When USCIS finds one problem with a case, they tend to find more which snowballs into difficult RFEs that are virtually impossible to answer by their own guidelines.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult RFEs every year.  We know what triggers them, and we know how to prevent them.  Let us look at your case before you file to fill in any gaps between the petition and visa approval.

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 the number of cap-subject H-1B petitions exceeds the allotted 65,000 annual H-1B visas and additional 20,000 visas for beneficiaries with master’s degrees or higher, USCIS has a randomized lottery to select which petitions will be processed.  Like last year, electronic registration will be the first step, and then those selected will be asked to submit a completed petition.  Also like this past year, the 20,000 advanced degree visa registrations will be selected first in a randomized lottery and those not chosen will get a second chance in the regular pool.  This gives beneficiaries with advanced credentials a higher chance of being selected for an H-1B visa.  Now, the Department of Homeland Security proposes to take it a step further, doing away with the randomized lottery for the upcoming H-1B filing season.

On November 2, 2020, DHS proposed the rule, “Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions.”   The comment period extends to December 2, 2020.

The background of this proposed rule stems from the 2017 Executive Order 13788 directing DHS and other agencies to, “suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries.” 

To follow this directive, this new rule generally selects “registrations based on the highest Occupational Employment Statistic (OES) prevailing wage level so that the proffered wage equals or exceeds for the relevant Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code and area(s) of intended employment.”

The reasoning DHS gives for doing away with the randomized lottery by generally selecting petitions for beneficiaries with the highest wage levels is as follows:

“A random lottery system is reasonable, but inconsiderate of Congress’s statutory purposes for the H-1B program and its administration.  Instead, a registration based on wage level within each cap would increase the average median wage levels of H-1B beneficiaries who would be selected for further processing under the H-1B allocations.  Moreover, it would maximize H-1B cap allocations so that they would more likely go to the best and brightest workers.”

However, this proposed rule ignores a central pillar of the H-1B program, which is to attract the brightest students from abroad to come to the United States for college by offering them an avenue for specialty occupation employment following graduation.  These jobs tend to be low-wage due to lack of work experience.  This new rule may also discriminate against small companies and petitioners based in geographical locations with generally lower wage levels.

If this proposed rule goes into effect, this may significantly change the way H-1B employers make hiring decisions regarding H-1B positions, set wage levels, and determine which jobs require advanced degrees.  We expect RFEs regarding wage level and specialty occupation issues to come back in full swing, and we anticipate education issues especially regarding advanced degree equivalencies. 

We are monitoring the situation closely and are dedicated to keeping our clients and community informed and developing creative solutions.  This new rule will be vulnerable to challenge in the court system and could very well be reversed or otherwise changed when the Biden Administration takes office.  In the meantime, let us review your case for viability and to see where adjustments can be made to enhance your petition’s odds of approval.

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.