Uncategorized

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.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult cases every year.  It is not uncommon for one RFE to trigger another, leading to as many as three rounds of RFEs before the H-1B visa is approved.  In this case, our client came to us with their second RFE.  The first was for a wage level issue, which triggered a specialty occupation issue. 

When a job is set at level one wages, sometimes USCIS will wrongly assume that it is entry level.  If the passage for the entry level position in the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook states that employers will usually but not always require the employee to have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, USCIS will issue a specialty occupation RFE. 

At RFE round two, there is already a massive time crunch to get the H-1B employee to work by their start date to prevent workflow hindrances.  This RFE needed to be answered right now.  Here is what we do in this situation:

The petitioner must provide a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the H-1B position, and highlight the skills and knowledge required to adequately perform the tasks of the job.  This should emphasize skills attained from completion of an advanced degree.  Include the ad for the job which required a bachelor’s degree as a minimum qualification, provide proof of past hiring practices with this minimum educational requirement, and provide ads for the same position in similar companies within the industry.

Along with this additional evidence as to the nature of the specialty occupation, we included an expert opinion letter based on this information provided.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with experts in all H-1B fields who have the credentials USCIS requires to lend weight to their opinion.  All of our experts work in the field of the H-1B job – they are NOT instructors in the field – and have held positions of authority in which they have made hiring decisions regarding the positions in question. 

We included this additional evidence and documentation along with the expert opinion letter in the RFE response.  The visa was approved!

If you are facing a specialty occupation RFE, let us help you get it overturned!  Visit www.ccifree.com for a free review of your case 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.

Unsure of your H-1B petition status?  Does it seem like processing time is dragging?  Has your address or other contact information changed since the time of filing leave you concerned that maybe you missed something?  You can get peace of mind by checking your case status online through the USCIS Case Status Online portal.

Here is what you need: the case receipt number.  This is a unique 13-character code consisting of three letters and ten subsequent numbers.  If you are not sure where your case receipt number is, look at the notices of action you have received by USCIS.  This number will appear on these notices.

On the case tracking portal, you will be prompted to enter this number.  When doing so, include all numbers, including asterisks if applicable, but omit all dashes, then hit the CHECK STATUS button.  From here, you will be able to view the status of your case and additional steps you will need to take.  If your contact information or address has changed since the time of filing, you will be prompted at this point to update this information to ensure streamlined communication regarding visa processing.

At this point, into FY2022, you are likely anxious to get the H-1B employee onboarded and to work.  There may still be RFEs standing in your way.  While RFE rates have dropped from previous cap-subject H-1B visa filing cycles, they are slowly creeping back up as second-round selections for this year’s lottery are being processed.  If you receive an RFE instead of approval, don’t panic.  This is not a rejection and can serve as an opportunity to strengthen your case.  Read over the RFE, then put it down and go back to the original H-1B eligibility requirements.  Then, cross-reference to see which requirements USCIS find evidence lacking in your case and provide additional evidence and documentation from there. 

If you have an education issue, a credential evaluation that fills in any gaps between the education the beneficiary has and the education USCIS will approve.  This may require a progressive work experience conversion in which three years of work experience in the field of the H-1B job wherein the beneficiary’s work took on greater complexity, specialization, and responsibility occurred indicating that education occurred on the job can be converted into one year of college credit in the major of the H-1B job. 

If you have a specialty occupation issue, an expert opinion letter written by an expert with extensive experience working in the field of the H-1B job in positions of leadership in which they made hiring decisions regarding the position in question will lend weight to your case.  This letter will be based on the information you can provide to the expert regarding the specific position in question. 

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult RFEs every year and we get them overturned.  We work with professors authorized to grant college credit for work experience available to write progressive work experience conversions.  Our international and domestic education experts write every credential evaluation uniquely, taking the job, education, work experience, visa requirements, and USCIS approval trends into account.  We work with experts in every H-1B field to write opinion letters to strengthen H-1B cases.  We know what triggers RFEs and we know how to successfully answer them.

Let us review your case for free.  Visit www.ccifree.com and we will respond in 4 hours or less with a free consultation. 

Sheila Danzig

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

One recurring education issue facing H-1B beneficiaries is when they have the required degree but in a field that is not an exact match for the H-1B job.  H-1B eligibility requirements state that the beneficiary must hold a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in a field related to the H-1B job.  However, over the better part of the past decade, USCIS has been issuing RFEs for beneficiaries with a degree specialization that is not an exact match for the H-1B job. 

This is a perennial issue because employers routinely hire employees with degrees in related fields because of the skill and knowledge overlap in addition to work experience in the field of the H-1B job.  Then, USCIS will not approve their visas because the degree specialization is not an exact match.

There are many different educational pathways, and it is the responsibility of the petitioner to clearly show USCIS that the beneficiary has the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in the exact field of the H-1B job in terms of US academic value.  Here’s how:

Include a detailed credential evaluation written uniquely to fill in any gaps between the education the H-1B beneficiary has and the education they need to get the visa approved.  This may include a detailed evaluation of the course content of the bachelor’s degree program, professional training, and progressive work experience in the field of the H-1B job.  Three years of progressive work experience in which the H-1B beneficiary took on progressively more complex work or responsibility throughout the course of employment can be converted into one year of college credit in the field.  This conversion must be written by a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, our international education experts write each credential evaluation uniquely, taking the job, the visa, the education and the work experience into account along with USCIS approval trends.  We work with professors with the authority to grant college credit for work experience to account for the proper degree specialization equivalency.

If you, or if your employee or client received and education H-1B RFE, let our experts help get it overturned!  Visit www.ccifree.com for a free review of your case.  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 the rate of H-1B RFEs has dropped, applicants selected in the second round of this year’s H-1B lottery are seeing a rise in the RFEs instead of outright visa approval.  The start of FY 2022 has come and gone, and RFEs further delay employee start dates, especially if round two arrives.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with complex RFEs every year and have developed a system for simplifying the process and successfully answering them.  We have consistently answered Double, Triple, and Nightmare RFEs.  Here is how:

First, read through the RFE and then put it down.  Second, go back to the original H-1B eligibility requirements and cross-reference it with the RFE to see where USCIS claims evidence is lacking in regard to the actual requirements. 

• Education issues require a detailed credential evaluation written with the beneficiary’s education, work experience, proffered position, H-1B visa requirements, and USCIS approval trends factored in.  This will close any gaps between the education the employee has and the education the employee needs.
• Address specialty occupation and wage level issues with an expert opinion letter written by an expert in the field of the H-1B job with extensive leadership and field experience.  The stronger the evidence and documentation you can provide, the stronger the letter and the RFE response in general will be. 
• Employer-employee relationship issues can be addressed by showing how the employer will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee even at third-party worksites.  Consulting firms should provide a complete itinerary of work including customer and client contact information for the duration of the H-1B visa.

Always take USCIS approval trends into account because at the end of the day, the adjudicator is who you are writing to.  Take their current trends into account, complete and organize the petition, and triple check to make sure all answers are consistent.  Make it a good experience to read your petition.

When USCIS finds one problem with a petition, this sends off a red flag to look for more, which can snowball into several rounds of complex RFEs.  Before you file an RFE response, let us review your case to make sure you have covered all of your bases. 

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 numbers are in!  The National Foundation for American Policy reports that the Denial rate for new H-1B petitions for the first two quarters of 2021 is 7.1%.  This is down from 28.6% for the first two quarters of 2020. 

However, this does NOT mean we can relax.  USCIS approval trends are still far stricter than they have been in the recent past, and just because they have loosened doesn’t mean it will be easy to get outright visa approval.  Part of the reason is also likely due to the change in the lottery process.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we suspect that part of the reason for the decline in rate of Denials is because H-1B applicants have gotten better at writing airtight petitions in anticipation of common issues that arise during adjudication. 

Computer programmers, professionals making level one wages, and other H-1B beneficiaries whose jobs do not ALWAYS require a US bachelor’s degree or higher still have to go the extra mile to prevent RFEs and Denials.  Additional evidence and an expert opinion letter are needed.

Beneficiaries with education earned outside of the US, 3-year bachelor’s degrees, incomplete college, no college, or the right degree in the wrong major still need to fortify proof of educational eligibility.  They need to include a detailed credential evaluation that fills in the gaps between the education the H-1B beneficiary has and the educational equivalency USCIS needs to see to approve their visa.  This credential evaluation must take any education and work experience into account, as well as the job, the visa, and USCIS approval trends.

Beneficiaries working as consultants must provide a complete itinerary of the work to be performed for the duration of the H-1B visa period or face employer-employee relationship issues.  Employees working at third-party worksites will also face these issues if additional documentation as to how the employer will be able to control the work of the H-1B employee offsite is not included in the initial petition.

Great work to all of you out there who have not let USCIS off the hook!  Every RFE or Denial successfully answered helped.  Every lawsuit challenging illegal Denials helped.  Every petition filed in anticipation of USCIS unlawful approval trends helped.  We didn’t give up, and we are seeing results!

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.

For nearly the past decade, H-1B beneficiaries who earned their degree outside of the United States in an educational system with a three-year bachelor’s degree program have run into trouble.  Those holding Indian three-year bachelor’s degrees are hit the hardest and most consistently. 

Even though there are equal if not more classroom contact hours in an Indian three-year degree as a US four-year bachelor degree, USCIS adjudication is hung up on the missing fourth year of college.  If you, or if your employee or client is in this situation, the answer is a work experience conversion.

Here’s how it works:

Three years of progressive work experience can be converted into one year of college credit by a professor authorized to grant college credit for work experience.  Progressive work experience means the beneficiary can clearly show that education occurred on the job as evidence by promotions, having taken on increasingly complex duties and responsibilities, and that the nature of the work became increasingly specialized over the course of employment.  This conversion occurs in the context of a credential evaluation that clearly shows the academic value of the beneficiary’s education in terms of US academic standards. 

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with professors authorized to make this work experience conversion.  Each credential evaluation is written uniquely by our international education experts, taking the job, the education, the work experience, the visa, and USCIS approval trends into account.  This is what we do best, and we have seen overwhelming success with the approval strategy in both initial petitions and in answering education RFEs.

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.