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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.

Education issues is a perennial RFE trigger for H-1B beneficiaries.  If the beneficiary’s education is ANYTHING EXCEPT a bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job from an accredited US college or university, outright approval is unlikely without including a credential evaluation.  This evaluation must be written uniquely for the situation and fill in any gaps between the education the beneficiary has and the exact degree USCIS will approve, taking USCIS approval trends into account.

The key to getting the RIGHT credential evaluation is finding the RIGHT credential evaluation agency to write it.  The problem is, the credential evaluation industry is not regulated, and not all agencies are equipped to get the job done for this finicky visa.

Always ask for past client references.  Always check reviews.  Even in a time crunch, do your due diligence because the wrong credential evaluation will not save you time when the RFE arrives.

When looking for the right credential evaluation agency, here are the big red flags that you need to keep looking:

• Communication issues.  They must respond promptly on all platforms – social media, email, text or call.  If they can’t respond promptly that shows they are not set up for quality service.
• They charge too much.  The right agency should charge reasonable fees, including reasonable rush delivery fees.  In the credential evaluation field, you don’t necessarily get what you pay for.  High costs – especially for rush deliveries – shows that the agency is out of touch with the world of visa approval which is rife with high fees and fast-approaching deadlines.
• They don’t ask enough questions.  To write an effective credential evaluation, the evaluator must know the job, the visa, the education, and past progressive work experience.  If they don’t ask enough questions to generate the right evaluation it means they are not writing their evaluations to uniquely meet the needs of their clients.  Look elsewhere.

The RIGHT credential evaluation agency responds promptly on any communication channel, charges reasonable fees, and asks the questions necessary to get a full grasp of your case and all of the factors that make up the beneficiary’s unique educational pathway.  The RIGHT credential evaluation agency is a member of professional organizations that lend to regulating the industry, such as NACE, ICAE, NAFSA, or the American Evaluation Association.  These organizations enforce standards in an otherwise unregulated industry.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, our international education experts write each evaluation uniquely to address the job, the education and work experience, the visa, and USCIS approval trends.  We work with professors authorized to grant college credit for work experience to ensure academic equivalency to the right degree in the right major.  Our consultations are always free and our evaluation fees are always reasonable.  We are active members of six different credential evaluation professional organizations. 

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.

Complex H-1B RFEs are not new, and they are not going away.  When USCIS finds one issue with a petition it triggers a closer look to find more – even if there aren’t any there!  That is how too many petitioners end up with multi-issue RFEs.  The Nightmare RFE dredges up so many issues that it is virtually impossible to answer in time by its own guidelines.

How do we answer the Nightmare RFE with an over 90% success rate?  We don’t follow the guidelines.

We advise our clients to read through the RFE, then put it down and go back to the original H-1B requirements and USCIS approval trends.  Then, look at the case in question and determine what evidence and documentation can better strengthen each requirement area.

When it comes to the Nightmare, this is what the solution looks like:

1. Education Issues.  Include a credential evaluation written uniquely to address the visa, the job, the beneficiary’s education, and USCIS approval trends.  This means showing that the beneficiary has the clear educational equivalency of a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job.  This often includes a progressive work experience conversion wherein a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience converts three years of the beneficiary’s progressive work experience in the field of the H-1B job into one year of college credit towards that major.
2. Specialty Occupation Issues.  Provide the ad for the job and ads for the same job at similar companies that show a bachelor’s degree is a minimum requirement to be hired to the position.  Include evidence of past hiring practices within the company showing the required bachelor’s degree minimum for the H-1B position in question. Include a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job highlighting specific skills and knowledge applied learned specifically through completion of a degree program in the field of the H-1B job.  Finally, include an expert opinion letter written by a professional in the field of the H-1B job with at least 10 years of field experience based on the additional information provided.  This expert should have experience in leadership and authority positions within the field in which they made hiring decisions regarding the position in question and supporting positions.
3. Employer-Employee Relationship Issues.  Show how the employer will be able to control the work of the employee even at third-party worksites.  In addition, provide a complete itinerary of the work the H-1B employee will perform for the duration of the H-1B visa. 
4. Wage Level Issues.  Provide a detailed breakdown of the factors that went into determining the appropriate wage level.  This issue can also be addressed in the Specialty Occupation expert opinion letter.

The best way to prevent a complex RFE is to anticipate and prevent it.  Taking the extra steps to clearly show USCIS that the beneficiary, the employer, and the position meet H-1B eligibility requirements is always worth it even if it feels like an unnecessary amount of hand holding.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with Nightmare RFE cases every year.  We know how to answer them, and we know how to prevent them.

Let us review your case for free before you file.  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.

While exact dates have not been announced, USCIS will begin accepting registrations for cap-subject H-1B visas the first week of March 2022. 

Again, this year employers must register each potential H-1B employee for the lottery electronically with a fee of $10 per employee.  Then, USCIS will conduct a randomized lottery, choosing for the 20,000 Master’s degree cap petitions first, and the 65,000 Bachelor’s degree cap petitions second, giving applicants with advanced degrees two shots at selection.  Registrants selected in the lottery will then have 90 days to file a complete H-1B petition.

For FY-2022 H-1B visas, over 308,000 electronic registrations were submitted.  However, it took three rounds of H-1B lotteries to fill all H-1B visa slots.  By the end of the selection process, 131,970 registrations were selected giving the opportunity to submit a completed petition.  That means that beneficiaries not selected in the first lottery still have the opportunity to be selected to file.

Employers have one month to identify potential H-1B employees and prepare to register for the lottery.  That means getting started on the Labor Conditions Application and taking stock of current USCIS approval trends likely to impact their employees:

• Specialty Occupation Qualification – this H-1B requirement will likely impact employees working entry level jobs and/or making level one wages. 
• Employees working at third-party worksites – employers must be able to show how they will be able to maintain the employer-employee relationship at third-party worksites, meaning the employer will continue to be able to control the work of the employee offsite.
• Education Issues – if the H-1B employee has anything but a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job a credential evaluation must be included to fill in any gaps between the education the employee has and that exact degree needed.  This means taking course content, professional training, and progressive work experience into account.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult cases every year.  We know what triggers approval issues and we know how to take preventative action.  Let us review your case for free before registration.  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.

One of the central purposes of the H-1B visa program is to attract foreign students to US colleges and universities by offering a post-graduate opportunity to stay in the country and work specialty occupations.  The H-1B visa is a visa of dual intent which allows beneficiaries the option to pursue pathways to citizenship if they so choose. Additionally, H-1B employees tend to earn higher wages, with $101,000 as the median annual income.

The Department of Homeland Security and Biden Administration are proposing changes to the H-1B visa program to provide more flexibility for F-1 individuals making the shift to H-1B.  Being the focus of new legislation is a mixed bag, however this does emphasize the importance of F-1 students to the vitality of the H-1B visa program, and in turn to the economic health and competitiveness of US industries.  For just one example, there are currently over 1.5 million job vacancies in computer occupations.  About 56,000 new H-1B petitions are for computer occupations annually.  That means there are nearly 30 times more computer job openings than there are H-1B beneficiaries eligible to fill them.

For F-1 students who want to make the shift to H-1B status following graduation, the first step is to plan ahead.  Apply for specialty occupation positions with employers who hire H-1B workers to be your sponsor.  If your position is subject to the annual H-1B cap, you will need to be ready to register for the H-1B lottery this coming March.  Some H-1B positions are not cap-subject, including jobs for nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and medical institutions.  It is essential to be aware of any deadlines.  When your petition is filed, it must be filed as a “Change of Status.”  If approved, the beneficiary can begin work on October 1, 2022, at the start of FY2023.

If the beneficiary’s F-1 status expires before their H-1B status begins, they may be eligible for a cap-gap extension.  This applies to beneficiaries with cap-subject H-1B occupations.  USCIS explains, “An F-1 student who is the beneficiary of a cap-subject H-1B petition and request for change of status that is filed on time may have their F-1 status and any current employment authorization extended until the first day of the new fiscal year.”  For this reason, it is essential to file on time.

Along with proposed changes to F-1 to H-1B, there are also proposed changes to H-1B cap-subject selection that would favor high earners, and further erode what qualifies as a specialty occupation. As evidenced by approval trends of previous years, and by these proposed changes, entry level positions are particularly vulnerable to RFEs and Denials.  This is because entry level workers make lower wage levels, and because USCIS does not always accept that these positions meet specialty occupation requirements – particularly positions that normally but do not ALWAYS require a US bachelor’s degree minimum.  Challenges with entry level positions are a particular problem for recent college and university graduates seeking to change from F1 to H-1B status.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we have encountered specialty occupation RFEs, wage level issue RFEs, and the Double RFE which rolls these two issues into one complex RFE. We have found the most successful way to answer these RFEs is with an expert opinion letter written by an expert in the field of the H-1B job with at least ten years’ experience working directly in the field, as well as leadership experience wherein they made hiring decisions regarding the H-1B position and supporting positions reliant on the H-1B position.  This letter is based on evidence and documentation provided by the petitioner regarding the position in question, past hiring practices, and wage level factors and will lend weight to the validity of the case.  We work with the RIGHT experts in every H-1B field to make sure beneficiaries get the support needed for H-1B visa approval.

Before you file, 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.

The word is out!  The United States experienced a record low in population growth over 2021 and the situation is dire.  The United States workforce needs more skilled foreign workers because there are simply not enough American workers to fill the jobs needed to support programs like social security.  Declining birth rates, higher mortality due to an aging population, and lower immigration were all existing factors compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and 2022 needs to be the year to bounce back.

However, there are changes coming to H-1B and PERM programs that may be at odds with the urgent need to promote the immigration of skilled workers.

In January 2021, the Trump Administration issued a rule to replace the H-1B lottery system with a wage-based selection system.  This rule was supported by the Biden Administration, but vacated by a federal court in June of 2021 with the consent of the Department of Labor.  However, the agency plans to put forth a new prevailing wage rule to take effect on November 14, 2022 with changes based on feedback from this past spring.  This will raise the prevailing wage for both H-1B and employment-based visas, and make changes to the allocation of H-1B visas based on salary.

In addition to changes to the prevailing wage, we expect changes to the H-1B program with regards to the employer-employee relationship and with regards to visa status with change of worksite.

Over the past few years, immigration lawyers have been on the frontlines keeping USCIS adjudicating petitions legally and fighting back unreasonable and unlawful changes to work visa programs.  We have had significant victories and must build on this momentum to keep the work visa programs vital to the economic health of the United States – as well as human rights – moving in the right direction.

USCIS begins accepting H-1B registrations for FY 2023 on March 1, 2022.  That means it’s time to start preparing to file.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we keep a sharp eye on USCIS approval trends and changes to adjudication policy.  We will continue to keep you informed on any changes as the registration date draws nearer, and are available 24/7/365 to review petitions, and offer guidance and feedback before you file.

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.

This past year has seen some monumental shifts in education and work-based immigration.  As we bring in the New Year, it is important to acknowledge the peculiarities of this year in the world of immigration, and to celebrate the victories we have had in the world of visa approval and immigration reform.

The number of education-based green cards doubled for this year due to the massive amount of unused family-based green cards during COVID-19 shutdowns worldwide.  This provided the opportunity for hundreds of thousands of skilled foreign nationals to live and work in the United States and pursue citizenship.

This year, immigration lawyers, H-1B beneficiaries and their sponsors, and other active parties pulled together to block the lottery from being converted into a wage-based system.  We fought for fair and legal H-1B visa adjudication in our petitions, RFE responses, and even in court.  In result, the RFE rate plummeted and the H-1B visa approval rate rose.  This took a massive effort, perseverance, and a healthy dose of creativity, and together we made massive strides.

Much of this year has been damage control from years of targeted attacks on the H-1B program, and from pandemic-based immigration hindrances.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we are excited for what 2022 holds, as we build on the momentum of the past year. 

Sheila Danzig

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

Since 2017, specialty occupation H-1B RFEs have become commonplace even for occupations that had never before run into trouble.  Here is why:

In terms of H-1B eligibility, the beneficiary must work in a specialty occupation and so the burden of proof is on the petitioner to show that the H-1B job meets one of the following eligibility categories:

1. The job normally requires attainment of a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent as a minimum educational requirement for entry into the job.
2. A US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent is required for this particular position and in the same position in similar organizations within the industry.
3. The employer always requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent for this position as evidenced by past hiring practices.
4. This position is uniquely complex and specialized as to require the skills and knowledge associated with completion of a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent to perform.

In 2017, USCIS began adjudicating “normally” as “always.”  If an occupation did not ALWAYS require a bachelor’s degree minimum according to the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, USCIS would issue a specialty occupation RFE.  In effect, they ruled the exception as the norm for jobs that would otherwise would not have run into any issue. 

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with specialty occupation RFEs every year and the best way to get them overturned is with the support of an expert opinion letter.  We always recommend including one with the initial petition.  However, a computer programmer client came to us last year who did just that and STILL received a specialty occupation RFE. 

Here’s why: the expert opinion letter was written by an INSTRUCTOR for the field of the H-1B job.  While this expert had extensive experience teaching ABOUT the field, they had very little actual experience working in the field of the H-1B job, nor had they been in positions of authority within the field.  USCIS would not accept the validity of this expert’s opinion.

USCIS will only accept the opinions of experts with extensive experience working directly in the field of the H-1B job.  This expert should have held positions of authority within the field wherein they made hiring decisions regarding the H-1B position in question.  We work with the RIGHT experts in every H-1B field.  We requested the client provide additional evidence and documentation regarding the position in question, including a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job highlighting which skills and knowledge are attained through completion of an advanced degree.  We requested the ad for the job and ads for the same position for similar companies, as well as proof of past hiring practices. 

Our expert was able to use this information and the weight of their credentials to write an expert opinion letter clearly showing USCIS that the position met specialty occupation requirements.  The RFE got overturned and our client got to work on time! 

If your employee or client is facing specialty occupation issues, 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.