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This year, the H-1B lottery held two rounds to fill all 85,000 visa slots, regular and advanced degree caps.  That means those selected in round two are knee-deep in RFE season.  The Double RFE, which takes issue with both the occupation and the wage level is common amongst complex RFEs and is based on two incorrect assumptions on part of USCIS:

1. If a position is set at wage level one, that means it is entry-level.
2. If a position is entry-level, it does not meet specialty occupation requirements.

First, wage levels are set based on a multitude of factors, including work experience.  Recent college graduates need additional supervision and on-the-job training, necessitating a lower starting wage.  This does not mean the job is an entry-level position, or that the wage level is set incorrectly. 

Second, in most cases, if the job is entry level, it still normally requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher as a minimum educational requirement to be hired to the position.  In recent years, if the occupation entry in the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook states anything but the position always requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher as a minimum education requirement, USCIS is likely to issue an RFE. 

These issues often go hand-in-hand because if the wage level is set at wage level one, USCIS assumes the position is entry level, and then specialty occupation issues arise, or USCIS assumes the wage level is set incorrectly.  This creates a feedback loop that quickly escalates into a complex RFE.

Luckily, the answer is not as complex as the RFE itself.  First, you will need to provide the ad for the job and ads for the same job in similar companies showing the advanced degree minimum requirement.  Second, provide a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job highlighting the skills and knowledge acquired specifically through completion of a bachelor’s degree or higher program in the field of the H-1B job.  Third, provide an analysis of the factors that went into setting the wage level as it is.  Finally, include an expert opinion letter that addresses both wage level and specialty occupation issues written by an expert in the field of the H-1B job.  This expert must have at least ten years of experience working in the field of the H-1B job and have held positions of authority in which they made hiring decisions regarding the position in question.  This letter will be based on the information you have provided.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with experts in every H-1B field whose credentials USCIS will accept as lending weight to their opinion.  If you have received a Double RFE or another complex RFE, get our experts in your corner.

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.

RFE rates have been tough on H-1B beneficiaries hired to the position of computer programmer, particularly if they are making level one wages.  This trend began several years ago when USCIS stopped approving H-1B visas outright for jobs that normally but not ALWAYS required a bachelor’s degree as a minimum educational requirement.  This hit programmers hard and swift, particularly because historically these professionals had no issue with visa approval.

What changed?  H-1B specialty occupation requirements state that the position must normally require a at least a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.  USCIS began adjudicating this as always, making the exception the rule for approval.  This was met with lawsuits, but not everyone has the resources to take USCIS to court. 

If you, or if your employee or client is applying for an H-1B visa to work as a computer programmer, especially if the position is set at wage level one, here is how to prevent a specialty occupation RFE:

1. Provide added evidence and documentation that this particular position is uniquely specialized as to require a bachelor’s degree minimum to perform the duties and responsibilities of the job.
2. Provide the ad for the job and ads for the same job in similar companies to show the bachelor’s degree minimum requirement, and proof of past employer hiring practices.
3. Include an expert opinion letter written by an expert with at least ten years of experience working in the field of the H-1B job.  This letter will lend weight to your case.  Ideally, this expert has held positions of authority in the field that involved making hiring decision regarding the position in question, and supporting positions that depended on the employee hired to the position in question having the skills and knowledge necessary for a functioning operation.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with experts in all H-1B fields with the experience necessary for USCIS to accept their opinion letters as evidence to support your case.  This strategy works to prevent and answer specialty occupation RFEs for computer programmers, and other borderline positions that normally – but not always – require a bachelor’s degree as a minimum educational hiring requirement.

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 U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the DHS Final Rule, “Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking to File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions” on September 15^th, in the case Chamber of Commerce, et al., v. DHS, et al.  This final rule, put forth under the Trump administration on January 8, 2021, would have given H-1B visa preference to those with the highest wage levels.  This would have done away with the lottery system and awarded visas based on wage. 

The Biden administration put the Final Rule on hold, to be enacted December 31, 2021 after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit challenging the rule.  Then, American Lawyers Association representing five nonprofits and businesses sued the Biden administration.  The onslaught of legal action paid off, preserving the H-1B cap-subject lottery selection process.

But that’s not all.                           

A central aim of the H-1B visa program is to attract foreign students to the United States for Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D. programs by offering the opportunity to work in the United States after graduation in specialty occupations.  The H-1B visa is a visa of dual intent, so the graduate can choose to pursue permanent residence or not, and the visa period is three years with the opportunity for extension.  However, these recent graduates are entering the field towards the bottom of the pay scale.  This new rule would have effectively excluded them from visa eligibility.

This new rule would have also effectively excluded professionals such as physicists, medical scientists, microbiologists, and other scientists whose positions fall on the lower end of the spectrum as an industry standard from H-1B visa slots. 

While the goal of this new rule was to sequester jobs for Americans, the reality is that we benefit when we can draw the brightest minds from around the world to US industries, and the US workforce does not have the bandwidth to fill the growing number of positions in expanding H-1B eligible industries.  Foreign students and foreign workers actually create MORE jobs for American workers, and create the synergy that keeps US STEM and other industries competitive in the global arena.  We all dodged a bullet. 

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we are here to help you navigate the changing landscape of visa approval.  As we have seen over the past better part of a decade, USCIS does not need changes in the law to justify adjudication decisions, and not everyone has the means to go to court over an illegal visa rejection.  That’s why we always keep an eye on USCIS approval trends and offer creative solutions to prevent and address approval 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.

Issues regarding education is a perennial problem H-1B beneficiaries face when it comes time to file.  This is because there are many educational pathways that highly skilled workers take to acquire the specialized knowledge and skill sets that their employers hire them for.   If the educational pathway is anything but a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of the H-1B job, USCIS is likely to answer the H-1B petition with an RFE instead of outright approval.

Common education situations that are likely to trigger approval issues:

• Degree earned outside the United States
• Three-year bachelor’s degree
• Generalized degree
• Degree with a major in a different field from the H-1B job
• Incomplete college
• No college
• Credential earned at an unaccredited institution.

To address these education issues in your H-1B petition or RFE response, it is essential to clearly show the US academic value of the beneficiary’s educational pathway is the equivalent to a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the field of the H-1B job.  The most effective strategy to accomplish this is with a detailed credential evaluation that includes a progressive work experience conversion.

What is a progressive work experience conversion?  Progressive work experience happens when it can be shown that education occurred on the job.  This is work experience where the beneficiary can show the nature of their work became more complex and specialized over time, indicating that specialized education occurred on the job.  Three years of this kind of work experience can be converted into one year of college credit in the major of the field of the job.  A professor authorized to grant college credit for work experience can write this conversion to account for missing years of education or show the equivalency of the degree in the matching major.

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com, we work with authorized professors to write each credential evaluation uniquely to fit the job, the education, the visa, and USCIS approval trends.  We work with difficult education RFEs every year.  We know how to prevent them, and we know how to answer them.

Let us review your petition or RFE for free before you file to check for education issues 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.

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.

If you, or if your employee or client meets employment-based green card eligibility requirements, this is the year to file.  In a normal calendar year, there are 140,000 of these green cards available to companies that permanently employ foreign nationals.  This year, starting October 1, 2021, there will be over 290,000 available.

Why is this the case?  Unused family-based visas roll over into the following fiscal year as employment-based visas.  Last year, 150,000 foreign nationals were unable to use these visas because immigration requires an in-person interview at the US consulate in their home country.  Last year, many of these consulates were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  That means the number of employment-based green cards available for the fiscal year of 2022 will more than double.

Employment-based green cards are broken down into five preference categories:

Employment-based first preference:

1. Workers in the arts, sciences, athletics, education, and business fields with extraordinary ability.
2. Outstanding researchers and professors.
3. Multinational managers and executives that meet certain criteria.

Employment-based second preference:

1. Workers whose proffered positions require a US master’s degree or higher or its academic equivalent.
2. Workers who have a National Interest Waiver.

Employment-based third preference:

1. Workers with bachelor’s degrees
2. Skilled workers
3. Unskilled labor workers

Employment-based fourth preference:

1. Certain special immigrants who fall into this category as detailed by USCIS.
2. Religious workers
3. Others as detailed by USCIS

Employment-based fifth preference: 

1. Immigrant investors who have invested at least $1 million
2. Immigrant investors who have invested at least $500,000 in a Targeted Employment Area.

ears, employment-based green card holders can qualify for US citizenship.  In addition to this benefit of employment-based green card status, beneficiaries can travel freely, their children can attend US public schools, and their spouses and children can work in the US.

Not sure what preference category is a fit for your situation?  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.

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.

If your H-1B application for FY2021 was rejected, you may get a second chance to file.  USCIS is now accepting petitions from last year that were rejected because the start date was LATER THAN October 1, 2020. 

Why is USCIS doing this?  Last year, under the new two-step application process and the general uncertainties of the pandemic, the H-1B cap was not filled from filings from the initial selection so there was another lottery in August of 2020.  While petitioners had until November 16, 2021 to file, the start date was still required to be set for October 1, 2020.  If this is your situation, it’s time to clean up the petition and resubmit.

The H-1B approval process can be long and arduous with at least one round of RFEs to respond to.  That means to get to work by the start date, applicants need to take steps to prevent issues that may delay visa approval.  At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with difficult cases and RFEs every year.  We keep an eye on USCIS approval trends and here is what we have noticed:

• If the beneficiary’s education is ANYTHING BUT a US degree in the exact field of the H-1B job, you will need to include a credential evaluation.  This credential evaluation must take the job, the education, work experience, visa requirements, and USCIS approval trends into account.
• If the US DOL Occupational Outlook Handbook entry for the H-1B position does not ALWAYS require a bachelor’s degree minimum for entry into the position, you need to include additional documentation fortified with an expert opinion letter to meet specialty occupation requirements.  This letter must be written by an expert in the field of the H-1B job with experience working directly in the field and in positions of leadership wherein hiring decisions regarding the position in question and supporting positions were made.  Wage level issues can also be addressed in this letter.
• If the position is consultant or for a consulting firm, include a complete itinerary of the work the H-1B beneficiary will be performing for the duration of the H-1B visa period.  This must include client and customer contact information.

Let us review your petition to identify areas of weakness and advise accordingly before you file.  For a free review of your case visit www.ccifree.com and we will respond in four hours or less.

Sheila Danzig

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

According to Forbes, about two-thirds of annual H-1B cap-subject visas are awarded to beneficiaries in computer occupations.  As of June 2021, there were over 1 million computer positions actively vacant.  However, H-1B applicants working as computer programmers have been hit the hardest by specialty occupation issues in their petitions.

A few years back, a H-1B visa approval trend emerged wherein occupations that are listed in the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook as normally but not always requiring a bachelor’s degree minimum were adjudicated to not meet the specialty occupation requirement.  H-1B eligibility requirements state that to qualify as a specialty occupation the job must normally require a bachelor’s degree minimum, but USCIS began adjudicating the exception as the norm.

There are three other ways to meet the specialty occupation requirement:

1. The minimum bachelor’s degree requirement is the industry norm for the position in question, or this position is uniquely complex.
2. The H-1B employer always requires a bachelor’s degree minimum for this position.
3. The nature of the job is uniquely complex as to require a bachelor’s degree at minimum.

If the position in question does not ALWAYS require a bachelor’s degree minimum as stated in the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, you will need to prove that it meets at least one of the three alternatives. 

This will require documentation of past hiring practices and the ad for the job along with ads for the same position for parallel companies that show an unbroken pattern of a minimum bachelor’s degree requirement.  You will also need to provide a detailed breakdown of the duties and responsibilities of the job along with an analysis of how complex skills and knowledge are applied.  Along with this evidence and documentation, provide an expert opinion letter written by an expert in the field of the H-1B job to lend credibility to your case.  This expert should have at least a decade of experience working in the field of the H-1B job, have held leadership roles, and have made hiring decisions regarding the position in question and supporting positions. 

At CCI TheDegreePeople.com we work with experts in every H-1B field that have the credentials and experience required by USCIS to accept their letters as evidence in your case.

For a free review of your case and consultation, 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.