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2017 EB2 Education Trends You Need to Know About

Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

The Degree must EXACTLY fit the job title on the PERM One common mistake in EB2 filing occurs when a candidate’s education does not exactly match the job title on the PERM. In the past, CIS has allowed candidates with degrees in fields related to their job to have their visas approved, but educational standards have tightened. This means if you have, or if your employee or client has a degree in a field that doesn’t exactly fit the field of employ, you cannot simply file as is. EB2 occupations are highly specialized, and you need to clearly show CIS that you have, or your employee or client has the precise skills and knowledge necessary to excel at the job. This means having education specialized to the profession. If this is you situation, or your employee or client’s situation, have a credential evaluator with experience working with EB2 petitions review the education and work experience. With the proper conversions, documentation, and citations, you may be able to get the evaluation needed to account for the proper degree specialization. The Bachelor’s Degree must be a SINGLE SOURCE If the bachelor’s or master’s degree is not an exact match for the job title on the PERM, or if you or your employee or client has a three-year bachelor’s degree, or anything other than a straightforward US education that fits the field of employ, DO NOT file without a credential evaluation. The purpose of this is to explain that the candidate holds the educational value equivalency of the education required by CIS to meet EB2 eligibility requirements. However, this leads into another common problem EB2 candidates face: the bachelor’s degree must be a SINGLE SOURCE. Unlike other visas, you cannot combine work experience and college credit to make the bachelor’s degree or master’s degree equivalency in the correct specialization. However, CIS does accept a work experience conversion of ONLY years of work experience in the field into enough years of college credit to meet CIS requirements for bachelor’s degree equivalency. Talk to a credential evaluator with the authority to convert years of work experience into college credit to see if you have, or your employee or client has the background necessary for this solution. EB2 processing time is years shorter than the time it takes to process EB3 petitions. For this reason, candidates are tempted to try to meet EB2 requirements even if they do not. DO NOT BE TEMPTED BY THIS. It is a waste of time. However, if the EB2 educational requirements can be met, definitely take advantage of this. Before you file, have a credential evaluator with extensive experience working with EB2 cases and EB2 RFEs review your case, or your employee or client’s case and see if you can clearly meet the requirements for this visa. If the education and work experiences fit, congratulations! Go for it. About the Author   Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of TheDegreePeople.com a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a no charge analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.  ]]>

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Expert Tips for You To Successfully Answer an H1B RFE

Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

  • Don’t expect your RFE to tell you how to answer it.
    • A big mistake candidates and their lawyers make every year is expecting the RFE to be helpful. When you read the RFE, remember that it is a tool CIS uses to weed out petitions. It’s a red flag. There are far too many petitions for the annual H1B visa cap every year and your RFE or your employee or client’s RFE is most likely a documented excuse for denial rather than a tool to help you. Read the RFE, make note of what it’s asking, but don’t get caught up in its wording and specific demands. Remember, some RFEs are virtually impossible to answer based on the directions they provide. This does not mean they’re impossible to answer. You just need to look for the answers in the right places.
    1. Reference and Understand H1B Requirements.
    The initial H1B eligibility requirements are the right place to look for the answers you need to get that RFE overturned. Your RFE, or your employee or client’s RFE was triggered because the evidence provided in the initial petition fell short of clearly proving the initial H1B requirements were met. Find out which requirements CIS is unclear about. When you go over the RFE, first revisit the detailed requirements INCLUDING current CIS educational trends, and then have these requirements on hand while you read through the RFE to discern where evidence was lacking. Then, figure out what documentation you need to fill in the gaps.
    1. Don’t expect to always be able to provide the specific materials the RFE requests.
    You will NOT always be able to get the specific documents CIS requests in the time allotted to answer the RFE. RFEs like The Nightmare are not designed to be answered, they are designed to confuse and justify denying the visa. If you follow the directions in an RFE like this one, you will find yourself out of time, out of money, and nowhere closer to getting your visa, or your employee or client’s visa approved. So don’t expect to in the first place and you will save yourself a whole heap of stress.
    1. Discern what it is CIS really wants to know.
    So you’ve reviewed the initial H1B requirements, you understand that the answer to your RFE does not lie within the RFE itself, and you know that you won’t necessarily be able to provide the exact documentation CIS requests in the RFE. Now it’s time to discern what CIS really wants to know. Sit down together, read the RFE with the initial H1B requirements, and figure out what CIS really wants to know. Where was clarity lacking in the initial petition? In many cases, the shortcomings have to do with CIS approval trends regarding educational equivalencies, or with proving specialization. When you meet with your team, be sure that your team includes a credential evaluator with experience working with H1B RFEs, understands CIS education regulations and approval trends, and has an in-depth understanding of international education. Education requirements and what is and what is not accepted as valid educational equivalencies for H1B visas have changed in recent years, and meeting these requirements can take a creative approach.
    1. MEET THE DEADLINE.
    Don’t miss the deadline. Make sure your RFE answer is filed by the deadline, and includes all of the documentation and evidence you need to strengthen your case, or your employee or client’s case, in order, and easy to read. It is highly unlikely you will get an extension, and missing the deadline will most likely lead to the case getting rejected. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

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    Answering an H1B RFE: Beware of Education Traps!

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    Badly Translated Transcripts When you submit an H1B petition, CIS requires all educational documents be translated into English and evaluated for US academic equivalence. Some degrees simply don’t translate directly into English. At the same time, many degrees do translate directly into English when it comes to the wording, but the degree has an entirely different academic content. This is why degrees must be translated AND evaluated, and these are both highly specialized fields. Sometimes translation agencies overstep their scope of practice and make educational value judgments along with language translation. This is a major H1B education trap that has become more and more treacherous as some translation agencies have begun to market their services as a “one-shop stop” for translation and evaluation. Credential evaluation must be carried out on a case-by-case basis because every pathway through learning is unique, every institution is unique, and every country has a unique structure. An evaluator must be knowledgeable about these differences, as well as federal case law, CIS precedents, degree program admissions requirements, and international trade agreements to write an accurate evaluation of your degree, or your employee or client’s degree. Translation agencies simply do not have this expertise and instead turn to conservative equivalency databases like EDGE, which is not actually a standardized equivalency database as no such database actually exists. If you or your employee or client received an RFE as the result of a bad translation, talk to a credential evaluation agency that works regularly with H1B RFE cases. A skilled evaluator can spot a bad translation and evaluate accordingly. The degree is not from a government-accredited institution. The fact is, there are plenty of institutions around the world that offer rigorous education programs that fully prepare workers for highly specialized occupations that are not actually government accredited. That means that even though you or your employee or client may have a legitimate education from an institution held in high regard by your industry, or your employee or client’s industry, the institution itself may not be government accredited and CIS will not approve the visa. This is an RFE trap that you may or may not be able to wriggle free of. If you have, or if your employee or client has years of progressive work experience in the field of their specialty occupation, a credential evaluator with the authority to convert years of work experience into college credit to write a US bachelor’s degree equivalency CIS will accept. It’s always best to find whether or not this will work BEFORE you file the petition, but even if you fell into this H1B trap for FY2017 you may still be able to answer the RFE and get the visa approved. The Bachelor’s Degree is ACTUALLY just a high school diploma. This happens more often than you may think. Mistaking a high school diploma for a Bachelor’s degree can happen as the result of cross-cultural misunderstandings, bad translations, and acting upon false information. H1B educational criteria require candidates to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher, or its equivalent. A high school diploma – or the foreign equivalent of a US high school diploma – will not cut it. If you or your employee or client fell into this H1B education trap, talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with H1B RFEs. If you have, or if your employee or client has any post-secondary education from an accredited institution, this can be counted towards a bachelor’s degree equivalency, along with any years of progressive work experience you have, or your employee or client has in the field of employ. This is a tough mistake to recover from, and you may even find out that you or your employee or client has been pursuing the wrong visa all along. However, there is still a chance that you can claw your way out of this H1B education trap. About the Author  Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.  ]]>

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    The Answer to Your EB2 RFE is NOT in the RFE!

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    Do you, or does your employee or client meet the educational criteria of the visa? First and foremost, make sure that the beneficiary’s education meets the educational criteria for the particular visa preference classification. For example, and EB2 visa requires beneficiaries to hold a US Master’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent, or a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalent FOLLOWED BY five years of progressive work experience in the field. If you or your employee or client does not meet these requirements, or cannot meet them with a detailed credential evaluation, you are petitioning for the wrong visa. However, many candidates who do not immediately meet these criteria actually do with the proper credential evaluation. This brings us to the second educational requirement for I-140 visas: The Bachelor’s Degree must be a single source. This means, unlike other visas such as the H1B, your client cannot combine work experience with years of college credit to write a bachelor’s degree equivalency. It must be a single source. This can become troublesome if you or your employee or client holds a three-year bachelor’s degree from a country outside of the United States because that missing fourth year is going to be a problem. However, years of progressive work experience in the field can in many cases be evaluated to be the equivalency of a US Master’s degree in the field, accompanied by the proper evidentiary support, documentations, and citations. The Education and Job Must Meet Visa Criteria It is tempting for candidates with EB3 qualified education to try for EB2 preference. This is because the wait time for visas being processed is years shorter for EB2 candidates than for those of EB3 education. Do NOT be tempted into petitioning for a visa that is not right for your client. EB2 candidates must hold a US Master’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent, OR a US bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent FOLLOWED BY five years of progressive work experience in the field. These requirements are extremely specific, but also very clearly spelled out. If you are unsure about your client’s education, talk to a credential evaluator who often works with I-140 cases and their RFEs. In the same way, some jobs simply don’t meet the specialization requirements of EB2 or EB1. These visas require highly specialized jobs with advanced degrees and work experience necessary to perform. If you or your client or employee does not hold a job that fits these requirements, you may be chasing the wrong visa. USCIS defines progressive work experience in the field as “demonstrated by advancing levels of responsibility and knowledge in the specialty.” This means that the candidate must have clearly learned skills and knowledge essential to the industry through this work experience, and instead of passing a test or getting a grade, this progress is evidenced through promotions and increased responsibility. Progressive work experience comes in handy candidates don’t have the number of years necessary in their foreign bachelor’s degree to make a single source US equivalence, and also when they run into the next RFE-triggering problem. The Degree MUST Match the Job Offer If your education, or your employee or client’s education doesn’t match the job offer on the PERM, you will receive an RFE. This is because candidates need to have the specialized skills and knowledge necessary to perform their job, and a degree in a different field does not assure CIS that they meet minimum requirements to perform their job. Employers will often hire employees with degrees in related fields that are not an exact match because they know there is enough information overlap, but CIS will question their qualifications with an RFE. If your degree, or your employee or client’s degree does not match the job offer, progressive work experience in the field can be converted into the necessary degree specialization. For example, say you or your employee or client has a job in computer sciences but a Master’s degree in engineering. The beneficiary also has five years of progressive work experience in the field of computer sciences. A credential evaluator with the authority to make this conversion can write the equivalent of five years of POST-BACHELOR’S DEGREE work experience in the field of computer sciences to a US Master’s degree in computer sciences. If you or your employee or client received an RFE, read it over carefully, but don’t get lost in it. Instead, sit down with your team and understand which of the ORIGINAL VISA CRITERIA are in question. Find out what evidence you need to provide to meet the ORIGINAL VISA CRITERIA that are in question and submit that documentation in your answer. The roadmap to answering the RFE is NOT in the RFE, so look to the original visa criteria and make sure that you’re not leaving any open gaps or failing to meet any requirements. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.    ]]>

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    RFE? Surprise! The answer is not in the RFE

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

    1) The job must be a specialty occupation. USCIS defines specialty occupation as a job so complex as to require a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent to perform. This is because specialized skills and knowledge are necessary to perform the duties of the job correctly. To show that your job, or your employee or client’s job is a specialty occupation, you can provide the advertisement for the job that includes minimum qualifications for the job. You should also provide ads for similar jobs in the same industry for companies of a similar size and scope. If your job, or your employee or client’s job holds higher requirements than similar jobs because this particular situation requires specialized knowledge, include an expert opinion letter clearly explaining why this is the case. 2) You, or your employee or client must have a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalency. The H1B visa is for highly skilled workers to live in the United States and work jobs that require specialized skills and knowledge. CIS requires beneficiaries of the H1B visa to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent. That means if you have, or your employee or client has a degree from outside of the United States – PARTICULARLY if it is a three-year bachelor’s degree or a degree that doesn’t call itself a degree like the Indian Chartered Accountancy certification – you need to submit a credential evaluation alongside the transcripts that clearly show its US academic value. This can be difficult because educational systems vary from country to country. The number of years it takes to complete secondary and post-secondary education are different, and the academic content is different. A credential evaluator with specialized understanding of international education as well as visa education requirements and CIS trends is needed to write the evaluation you need, or your employee or client needs to answer the RFE. CIS allows beneficiaries to combine years of progressive work experience in their field of employ – meaning the work experience required them to take on more responsibility as time went on – to fill in missing years in a degree. Three years of progressive work experience in the field can be converted into the equivalent of one year of college credit in your client’s specialization. This conversion requires a credential evaluator with the authority to convert work experience into college credit, and back it up with the necessary evidence and analysis. 3) The degree must match the field of employ. Since your job, or your employee or client’s job is a specialty occupation, the education must be specialized to his or her field of employ. In recent years, CIS has required the degree specialization to be an EXACT match – whereas in the past they accepted education in a related field and employers regularly hire candidates with related degrees and direct work experience in the field. Of course, you need to answer the RFE with regards to CURRENT CIS approval trends, and that means your degree, or your employee or client’s degree specialization must match the job offer. If you or your employee or client has a generalized degree or a degree with a major that is not an exact match for the job, a credential evaluation that converts years of work experience in the field into college credit counting towards that specialization is in order. Additionally, a credential evaluator can take a close look at the course content of your degree, or your employee or client’s degree and count courses completed in the field of employ towards a degree with a major in that field. Talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with education RFEs and decide the best course of action to meet this requirement. 4) The beneficiary and employer must have an employer-employee relationship. Employer-employee relationships means that the employer has the ability to hire, fire, promote, pay, supervise, and otherwise control the work the beneficiary does as an employee. If these terms are not clearly met, CIS will issue an RFE. To show you or your employee or client meet this requirement, you can submit the employee manual or contract agreement to show CIS the nature of this relationship. 5) The employer must pay the beneficiary the prevailing wages and benefits for the job. The employer must pay the beneficiary the prevailing wages and benefits for the job, for companies of that size in that industry, and in that specific geographical location. To prove this, you need to provide evidence of what those prevailing wages and benefits are, as well as evidence that the employer will be meeting those standards. In addition, you must be able to show that the employer has the economic viability to do so without cutting resources from other employees or the company or organization itself. The economic viability of the beneficiary’s employer is key. To prove this, submit copies of the W-2 form, or pay stubs if the beneficiary is already employed in this position under a different visa status. You may also have to provide quarterly reports for the employer, tax information, or other evidence that shows that the beneficiary’s employer is able to provide prevailing wages and benefits. Many RFEs have difficult wording and make virtually impossible evidence requests – most notably the Nightmare RFE. An RFE does not have the roadmap to successfully answer it contained within it. Read over the RFE, then return to the basics of what requirements need to be met for the H1B visa. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director at TheDegreePeople.com, a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a free analysis of any difficult case, RFE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

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    How to Find the Right Credential Evaluator for an H-1B RFE

    Credential Evaluation, immigration, Visa Approvals

  • Do they offer a free review of the case?
    • An evaluator cannot know what services must be provided – or whether or not your education, or your employee or client’s education and work experience will even work for the H-1B visa at all – without reviewing your employment history, or your employee or client’s employment history and educational documents. You received an education RFE. Before you answer it, make sure you CAN answer it successfully with what you, or your employee or client has to work with, and what needs to be done to write the equivalency that will accurately meet H-1B education standards. If an agency or evaluator asks for payment before looking into what needs to be done, look elsewhere.
    1. Are they easy to work with?
    The evaluator who you want to work with is one who wants to work with you. Answering an RFE means you have to collect a lot of documentation – some not so easy to secure – in a short amount of time. Don’t waste your time working with an evaluator who doesn’t answer your calls, your text, your emails, or your questions to your satisfaction. Being easy to work with also means they are affordable and offer rush delivery options. When it comes to credential evaluation agencies, you don’t “get what you pay for.” The best ones tend to be inexpensive.
    1. Did they ask about the visa?
    A common cause of an education RFE is that the evaluator wrote the right evaluation for the wrong visa. Many evaluation agencies will write a standard evaluation of your credentials, or your employee or client’s credentials without regard for the particular, unique educational requirements for the H-1B visa. Educational requirements, as well as approval trends and standards surrounding what education and work experience can be combined to write an equivalency vary from visa to visa. For example, an H-1B beneficiary may combine work experience and college credit to write an acceptable equivalency to a US bachelor’s degree. Meanwhile, an EB2 beneficiary who tries to do the same thing will fail because for that particular visa the bachelor’s degree must be a single source. The evaluation must lend itself to the visa in question to be successful.
    1. Did they ask about the job offer?
    Just like the particular visa requirements, the evaluation must also lend itself to the client’s job offer. In the past, CIS has accepted petitions in which the beneficiary holds a degree in a field related to the job offer. This is not the case anymore. Now CIS requires beneficiaries to have a degree in their exact field of employ. This is because H-1B visas are for beneficiaries working specialized occupations, with knowledge and skills specialized to their field. While an employer will look at a candidate’s education and work experience and see that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to work their job, if the degree is not in the field, CIS will require more evidence. If your credential evaluator doesn’t ask about your job, or your employee or client’s job, he or she does not understand this and you need to look elsewhere. If your degree, or your employee or client’s degree is in a mismatched field, a credential evaluator with the authority to convert progressive work experience in the field into college credit in that specialization is exactly who you need to be working with.
    1. Do the often work with RFEs, Denials, and NOIDs?
    The credential evaluator you want is one who does not shy away from difficult cases. You, or your employee or client received an RFE, so you want to work with an evaluation agency with extensive experience answering them. It’s important to keep in mind that the roadmap to answering the RFE is NOT IN THE RFE ITSELF. Especially with RFEs like the Nightmare – which is virtually impossible to answer if you follow its instructions – guidance from those who know the terrain and can navigate it successfully is essential to success. Evaluators that work with these kinds of cases know what CIS is looking for in the documentation they request, know what triggers and RFE, and what works and what does not in answering it. These evaluators follow CIS approval trends, which change from year to year. About the Author Sheila Danzig Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of TheDegreePeople.com a Foreign Credentials Evaluation Agency. For a no charge analysis of any difficult case, RFEs, Denials, or NOIDs, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.    ]]>

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