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Over the past two years, lawyers, employers, and H-1B beneficiaries have suspected USCIS raised its standard of proof for H-1B visa approval without any new law, regulation, or notice to the public. This was evidenced anecdotally with jobs that had never before been called into question for meeting H-1B specialty
The numbers show that the same specialty occupations approved for H-1B visas just a few years ago are now being called into question. According to Forbes, in FY2017 only 3% of H-1B extension petitions were denied. These petitions are for beneficiaries whose H-1B visas were previously approved. Then, in FY2018,
RFE Season is Rolling in with MORE Specialty Occupation RFEs Every year, a higher percentage of H-1B beneficiaries selected in the lottery receive an RFE this time of year instead of outright visa approval. If you, or if your employee or client received an H-1B RFE this year, there is
Case Study: The Right Credential Evaluation to Overturn an H-1B RFE During H-1B RFE season, we have beneficiaries come to us every year with education RFEs. We always tell our readers to NEVER submit a petition without a credential evaluation IF the education is incomplete, in a different degree than
Case Study: Indian Three-Year Degree H-1B RFE Overturned! A recurring RFE we see every year with H-1B candidates is the education RFE for the Indian three-year bachelor’s degree. Candidates who do not submit credential evaluations that account for the missing fourth year of education with their initial petition get RFEs
Case Study: RFE for Wrong Degree Specialization Overturned! USCIS and employers have a different idea of what qualified an H-1B employee for their specialty occupation. It is commonplace for employers to hire a candidate with a degree in a field related to the position, given they have proper work experience
H-1B RFE Case Study: Expert Opinion Letter from Professor of Computer Sciences Denied Last year we had countless clients come to us with specialty occupation RFEs. Some of them came to us with RFEs that they had tried to get overturned with an expert opinion letter, and failed. One such
How to Answer a Double H-1B RFE For Education and Specialty Occupation RFE season is now, and when CIS finds one problem with a petition, they tend to find more. Over the past few years, we have seen a common double RFE involving specialty occupation and education issues. H-1B eligibility
Unique H-1B Issues that Face IT Consulting Firms this RFE Season Recently a lawsuit was filed against USCIS by ITServe Alliance. This is a organization of US IT service companies that had previously petitioned USCIS against new changes to H-1B adjudication rules. The new rules state that for IT consulting
What to Expect and When to Expect it this H-1B Adjudication Season USCIS has completed selecting the 85,000 H-1B petitions to be adjudicated for approval for cap-subject petitions for FY 2020. Those selected that filed for premium processing may begin receiving notice this week as to their approval status with
