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Credential Evaluation

Everything You Need to Know about H1B RFEs for 3-Year Degrees

Credential Evaluation, Immigration

One of the very most common H1B RFE triggers is a 3-year bachelor’s degree with no credential evaluation, or with the wrong kind of credential evaluation.

Many H1B candidates come to the United States to work missing a fourth year of education. The Indian 3-year Bachelor’s degree is the most common 3-year degree to trigger an RFE because there are only twelve years of pre-college education rather than thirteen. Although 3-year degrees from India tend to have even more classroom contact hours than the US 4-year bachelor’s degree, CIS is hung up on that missing fourth year.

If you or your employee or client has an Indian 3-year bachelor’s degree and you submitted the H1B petition without a credential evaluation, chances are you received an RFE regarding the candidate’s education. Even if you did submit a credential evaluation with the petition, you may have received an RFE anyway, and here’s why:

Every visa has particular regulations surrounding what CIS will and will not accept for educational equivalencies. In addition, CIS approval trends change year to year. For example, in the past, we could write a classroom clock hours conversion breaking down the number of hours students spend in class for an Indian 3-year Bachelors degree. Then, we would use the Carnegie Unit conversion which converts fifteen hours of classroom contact hours into 1 hour of college credit. A US 4-year Bachelor’s degree contains a minimum of 120 credit hours. If the 3-year degree contained at least this many credit hours, the equivalency would work. This is not the case anymore.

Now, the right credential evaluation for an H1B candidate’s 3-year degree uses a work experience conversion to account for the missing fourth year. CIS is VERY focused on that missing fourth year of education regardless of the intensity of education.

Here’s how it works:

Three years of progressive work experience in the field of your or your employee or client’s H1B job can be converted into one year of college credit. In this work experience, the candidate must have taken on more responsibility and tasks of greater specialization while at this job, proving that education occurred on the job. This conversion must be written by a professor authorized to grant college credit for work experience. At TheDegreePeople.com, we always have authorized professors on staff available to write these evaluations.

If you or your employee or client received an RFE for a 3-year degree, don’t get too far on your response without a full analysis of your situation and all of your options moving forward. Let us review the case. Simply go to ccifree.com and submit all of the educational documents and a current, accurate resume and we will get back to you within 24 hours with your pre-evaluation, full analysis, and all of your options.

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, RE, Denial, or NOID, please go to http://www.ccifree.com/ or call 800.771.4723.]]>

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RFE Alert: Did you submit the right evaluation for the wrong visa?

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

College and graduate admissions evaluations, for example, are an entirely different from what is needed in a credential evaluation for a work visa. Education requirements vary from visa to visa, and what CIS accepts for combinations and equivalencies also varies between visas. Many credential evaluation agencies will write a standard evaluation for every case and call it good, but this will not work for H1B.

Think back to when you ordered your client’s credential evaluation:

  • Did they ask about the candidate’s job?
  • Did they ask about the candidate’s visa?
  • Do they regularly work with RFE cases?

The right credential evaluation agency will ask the right questions, work regularly with RFE, and follow CIS approval trends.

If the answer is no to any or all of these questions, it is likely that you had the right evaluation for the wrong visa. While the evaluation may be accurate, it still did not met CIS requirements for H1B eligibility.

For an H1B visa, the candidate must hold the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree or higher in the exact field of their H1B job. For three-year bachelor’s degrees or for degree that don’t exactly match the field of employ, you need a credential evaluation to fill in the eligibility gaps. CIS will not accept classroom clock hour conversions to hours of college credit. The fourth year must be accounted for with a progressive work experience conversion of three years of work experience to one year of college credit in the field.

The right credential evaluation agency will keep one eye on the education and the other on CIS. That’s what we do at TheDegreePeople.com.

If you or your employee or client received an RFE for an education situation, let us help you for free. Simply hit go to ccifree.com and submit the educational documents and a current, accurate resume. We will get back to you within 24 hours with a pre-evaluation, full analysis, and all of your options moving forward.

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.

RFE Alert: Did you submit the right evaluation for the wrong visa? Read More »

Overturn an H1B Nightmare RFE in Three Steps

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


The Nightmare RFE is virtually impossible to answer by following its own guidelines. However, at TheDegreePeople, we work with these RFEs regularly and with a creative approach have a very high rate of success in getting them overturned and our clients’ visas approved.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Read it.

Sit down with your team and read through the entire RFE carefully. Look at the documentation and evidence that you are being asked to provide. Don’t panic, you won’t have to provide the virtually impossible amount of evidence in the virtually impossible amount of time the RFE states.

  1. Put it down and go back to the original H1B requirements.

This RFE will not tell you how to answer it. The second step is to put the RFE down and return to the initial H1B requirements. In looking at the original H1B requirements in light of the evidence and documentation being requested, you can get a sense of what underlying questions CIS is really trying to answer in requesting the evidence indicated. Answer those underlying questions and you won’t need to jump through the impossible amount of hoops the Nightmare seems to require. Remember, the candidate’s job must be a specialty occupation requiring a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent to perform. The candidate must hold that degree in the exact field of employ or its foreign equivalent. Your client’s employer must be economically viable and pay the H1B worker the prevailing wages for that job for a company of that size in that geographical location. The candidate and the employer must also have an employer-employee relationship in which the employer can hire, fire, promote, pay, supervise, and otherwise control the candidate’s work. Find out which of these requirements were not clearly met, and provide the evidence to fill in the gaps left open in the initial petition.

  1. Go to CCIFREE.COM for a free consultation on how to best proceed.

Visit us for a free consultation on your education situation, or the situation of your employee or client. Oftentimes, what was missing in the original petition was a credential evaluation – or the RIGHT credential evaluation. If you or your employee or client has a degree from outside of the United States, incomplete college, or a degree in a generalized field or field that does not exactly match the H1B job, a credential evaluation is needed so CIS can clearly see the value of the education. Oftentimes, a credential evaluation agency will write an accurate evaluation, but not take the nuances of the H1B visa into account. If you’re wondering why you, or your employee or client got an RFE even though you submitted a credential evaluation, this may be your situation. Did the agency ask about the job or visa? These are two essential components of writing the RIGHT credential evaluation for the H1B visa.

Are you staring down a Nightmare RFE? We can help. Simply go to ccifree.com and submit the candidate’s educational documents and a current, accurate resume and we will get back to you within 24 hours with a full pre-evaluation and analysis, and all of your options moving forward.

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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Five Tips to Successfully Answer Your H1B RFE

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


An RFE is an opportunity to strengthen you case, or your employee or client’s case. At TheDegreePeople, we work with H1B RFEs regularly and have found that these five tips in particular help clients find success in answering even the most difficult RFEs.

  1. Find out who is at fault for the RFE.

This is not to cast blame, but rather to find out where evidence is lacking and who dropped the ball. Sometimes CIS is at fault. It’s no surprise that CIS makes mistakes. A candidate can file a spotless H1B petition on time, in order, and still receive an RFE. Sometimes the attorney will file the petition wrong. Sometimes the candidate is mistaken or misleading about the actual academic value of their education, sometimes the credential evaluator made a mistake, and sometimes the evaluator wrote an accurate evaluation without taking CIS approval trends and H1B requirements into consideration. Find out who is at fault, and from there discern what must be done to rectify the situation.

  1. Read the RFE, but don’t read into it TOO much.

Sit down with your team, read the RFE, figure out what is being asked of you, and then put it down. Getting caught up in the wording of an RFE can distract you from what CIS is actually asking. Instead of focusing on the verbatim of the RFE, discern what they are trying to learn about the candidate based on the evidence they request. RFEs like the Nightmare RFE are virtually impossible to answer by following its own guidelines. The RFE will not tell you how to answer it. Look instead to tip number three.

  1. Go back to the initial H1B requirements.

Instead of getting caught up in what the RFE is asking, go back to the original H1B requirements and find out what was lacking in the initial petition. CIS issues an RFE when they don’t feel they have enough information to make a decision of whether or not you or your employee or client meets visa requirements with the evidence and documentation originally given. H1B visas are for highly skilled foreign workers employed in specialty occupations that require a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent as a minimum requirement for the job. The job must meet this requirement, and the candidate must hold that degree or its foreign equivalent in the exact field of their H1B job. Furthermore, you must prove that the candidate and the employer have an employer-employee relationship, the employer is economically viable, and the candidate will be receiving the prevailing wages and benefits for that job in that geographical location for companies of that size. Find out which of these requirements is lacking in evidence and work with your team to fill in the evidentiary gaps left open in the initial petition.

  1. For candidates with foreign degrees, incomplete college or no college degrees, or degrees that do not exactly match the job need a credential evaluation.

If you or your employee or client is in one of the above situations, you need to include a credential evaluation in your response to the RFE. CIS will not approve the visa unless there is a clear explanation of why the candidate meets the educational requirements. If you or your employee or client has a foreign visa, it needs to be evaluated for US academic value. For foreign bachelor’s degrees that take three years to complete instead of the US four, the candidate will need a work experience conversion that converts three years of progressive work experience in the field into college credit towards that specialization to account for the missing fourth year. If you or your employee or client has a degree in a field that doesn’t exactly match their job, they will need a work experience conversion as well, and a close examination of their course content to write an equivalency to the correct specialization.

There are many other situations in which a credential evaluation is required. Don’t take chances, simply go to ccifree.com and attach your or your employee or client’s client’s educational documents, a current resume, and the job title or desired equivalency and we will get back to you within 24 hours with a free pre-evaluation and analysis with all of your options.

  1. If a credential evaluation is needed, make sure you work with an agency that understands H1B visas.

A common education RFE occurs when a candidate submits the right credential evaluation for the wrong visa. Different visas have different requirements for what is acceptable for equivalencies and conversions. The evaluation agency you need understands the nuances of the H1B visa and also keeps an eye on CIS approval trends, which change.

When you’re talking with a potential credential evaluation agency, keep this in mind: if they don’t ask about the visa or job, they don’t understand what they need to write an evaluation for the visa. Without this information, it is impossible.

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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H1B RFE? 5 Questions to Find the Right Credential Evaluator

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


If you or your employee or client has a degree that does not match their field, a degree from outside of the US, incomplete college, or a degree that doesn’t have the word “degree” in the title, you will need to find the right credential evaluator for the job. Many education RFEs occur because the petition was submitted without a credential evaluation, or a credential evaluation that did not take the nuances of the visa requirements, the job, the degree, or CIS approval trends into consideration. Do not make this same mistake when responding to an RFE.

When looking for the right credential evaluation agency for the job, keep these five questions in mind:

  1. Are they affordable?

The right credential evaluation agency is inexpensive. This is not one of those situations where you get what you pay for. The agency that wants to work with you keeps their rates reasonable.

  1. Is it easy to work with them?

You will know the answer to this in pretty short order. Do they answer or promptly return your calls, texts, or emails? Do they answer your questions to your satisfaction? Do they make you feel comfortable in your communication with them? Do they offer rush delivery options? Agencies that regularly work with visa cases and their RFEs understands the time crunch you are under and makes it easy for you to get what you need when you need it.

  1. Did they ask about the candidate’s job and visa?

If the answer to either of these is no, look elsewhere. In order to write the right credential evaluation for your client’s case, the evaluator must know which visa they are working with, and what job the credential evaluation is for. Educational requirements vary from visa to visa, and what combinations of education and work experience CIS will accept as equivalencies vary as well. You don’t want to end up with the right evaluation for the wrong visa.

  1. Does the agency regularly work with RFEs, Denials and NOIDs?

If an agency works regularly with these cases, they understand what causes RFEs for H1B visas, and how to properly address them.

  1. Do they offer a free review of the case before you order your evaluation?

If an agency doesn’t review the case first, there’s no way they can know what the evaluation will entail. Never put down money without a consultation of all of your options. If an agency demands money up front before they will even look at the candidate’s documents, look elsewhere.

If you, or your employee or client has an H1B RFE for an education situation, let us provide a pre-evaluation with all of your options free of charge. Simply go to ccifree.com and attach the educational documents, a current resume, and the H1B job title, and we will get back to you within 24 hours with your pre-evaluation, a full analysis, and all of your options to overturn the RFE.

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.]]>

H1B RFE? 5 Questions to Find the Right Credential Evaluator Read More »

H1B RFE? Whose fault was it?

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

When your RFE or your employee or client’s RFE arrives, sit down with your team and read it over and determined who dropped the ball. Finding out who is at fault for the RFE is not about placing or deflecting blame, but rather an investigative tool you can use to find out where you need to make changes and provide more evidence to get the RFE overturned.

Sometimes CIS is to blame for the RFE

As you well know, CIS is not perfect. The H1B petition could have been spotless and CIS will still issue an RFE. These RFEs are factually incorrect. They are frustrating, but they are easy because you already have all of the evidence, documentation, and analysis ready to file.

Sometimes it’s the attorney’s fault

While it is rare, an attorney will sometimes file a petition incorrectly. If this is the case, it’s typically not worth firing your attorney for this late in the process. Misfiling errors can be corrected.

Sometimes the RFE is the fault of the candidate

Sometimes H1B candidates will mistake the value of their degree. It’s not uncommon for a candidate to insist that a high school diploma is a college degree, or to provide mistranslated or poorly evaluated educational documents that trigger an RFE. Sometimes the degree isn’t from an accredited institution, and regardless of how good their education actually is, CIS will not accept a degree from an institution that is not accredited. If this is the case, it’s important to find out where the candidate’s mistake was made and provide accurate evidence in its place when answering the RFE.

Sometimes the evaluator – or the evaluation – caused the RFE

Credential evaluations for visa cases can get tricky in a hurry, and not every credential evaluator or agency is up for the job. International education is very specialized and nuanced, and each visa has different educational requirements, as well as requirements surrounding what constitutes an equivalency CIS will accept. On top of that, CIS approval trends regarding education change from year to year. For example, in the past, CIS would approve H1B petitions in which the candidate had a US bachelor’s degree or higher in a field related to their H1B job, whereas now they require an EXACT match. If your client has a three-year bachelor’s degree, CIS will no longer accept a classroom contact hour evaluation that breaks down the academic content by converting classroom contact hours into college credit hours. Now, a work experience conversion of three years of progressive work experience to one year of college credit in the field is required to account for the missing fourth year. The evaluator you need for the job follows CIS approval trends, understands the nuances of international education, and understands the difference between educational requirements for different visas. A perfectly good credential evaluator can write the wrong evaluation for your or your employee or client’s H1B case.

Here’s a hint: When choosing the right credential evaluator, do they ask about the visa and the job? If the answer is no, then look elsewhere. These factors are vital to the right evaluation for the case.

If you or your employee or client received an H1B RFE, let us provide a free pre-evaluation of the candidate’s education. Simply go to ccifree.com and submit educational documents, a current accurate resume, and indicate the job title and desired equivalency. We will get back to you within 24 hours with the pre-evaluation, a full analysis, and all of your options to successfully overturn your client’s RFE.

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.

H1B RFE? Whose fault was it? Read More »

H1B RFE Season 2017 is Here! Are You Ready?

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


If you or your employee or client receives an RFE, don’t panic! This is frustrating, but not the end of the world. You can make the most of the RFE to strengthen the case and turn that maybe into a resounding approval.

Here’s the trick: First, sit down with your team and go over the RFE. Then, put the RFE aside and go back to the initial H1B requirements. Oftentimes, the RFE will not tell you how to answer it. In fact, some RFEs are virtually impossible to answer by their own guidelines. The secret to successfully answering an RFE is to discern which of the initial H1B requirements were not clearly met in the original filing, and then do what you can to fill in the gaps.

To qualify for an H1B visa, a candidate’s job must be a specialty occupation. That means the minimum requirements for the job include holding a US bachelor’s degree or higher to perform the tasks of that job. The candidate and employer must have an employer-employee relationship, meaning the employer can hire, fire, pay, promote, and otherwise control the work the employee does. The employer must be economically viable and pay the candidate the prevailing wages and benefits for the job without cutting into operating costs. Finally, the employee must hold the proper degree or degree equivalency in the exact field of the job.

If these requirements are clearly met, CIS will almost always approve the visa. However, CIS does have approval trends that change from year to year, and are specific when it comes to employee education.

If you or your employee or client has a degree from outside of the United States, a generalized degree, or a degree that is not an exact match for their H1B job, you will need to provide a credential evaluation that fills in the gaps between the candidate’s education and the education CIS requires. This is a highly specialized process. The credential evaluation agency you want works regularly with H1B RFE cases and follows CIS approval trends.

Before you get to far on your RFE response, let us provide a pre-evaluation with all of your options to help prevent or overturn an educational RFE. Simply go to ccifree.com and submit the educational documents and a current accurate resume along with the candidate’s job title or desired equivalence. We will get back to you within 24 hours with the pre-evaluation, a full analysis, and all of your options.

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.]]>

H1B RFE Season 2017 is Here! Are You Ready? Read More »

What H1B Job Title is an RFE Magnet?

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


US Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Systems Analysis is only available at universities with self-designed degrees. In India, there is a BCA in Computer Systems Analysis, but this degree triggers an RFE because it is a three-year Bachelor’s degree. The only degree we have seen not trigger an RFE for this job is a US Masters of Computer Systems Analysis. Again, this is also a relatively rare degree.

So what’s the problem?

Until about seven years ago, CIS approved the H1B visas of candidates with US Bachelor’s degrees in fields related to their H1B job without question. Now, the degree must be an EXACT match for the job title. With such an unusual degree, it is hard for anyone with a job in Computer Systems Analysis to have a US Bachelor’s degree that is an exact match.

If your or your employee or client’s H1B job is Computer Systems Analysis, chances are you will need a credential evaluation to preempt or to answer an RFE. If you or your employee or client has an Indian BCA in Computer Systems Analysis, a professor authorized to issue college credit for work experience can write a work experience conversion that turns three years of progressive work experience in the field of Computer Systems Analysis into one year of college credit to account for the missing fourth year. If you or your employee or client has a degree in a related field, a work experience conversion of this kind, along with a close examination of the coursework involved in the degree to emphasize classwork in Computer Systems Analysis is needed.

Unless you or your employee or client has a US Masters of Computer Systems Analysis, don’t chance it. An RFE is not the end of the world, but it makes visa approval a whole lot harder, more expensive, more time-consuming, and more stressful.

Before you file or answer an RFE, let us provide a pre-evaluation with all of your options for free. Simply go to ccifree.com and submit all educational documents, a current, accurate resume, and indicate the job title or desired equivalency. We will get back to you within 24 hours with your pre-evaluation, a full analysis, and all of your options.

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.]]>

What H1B Job Title is an RFE Magnet? Read More »

Your Best Solution to the EB2 Education Puzzle

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

For other visas, as well as for entrance to graduate programs in the US, candidates can combine education with work experience to meet equivalency requirements for a US Bachelors degree. This is not the case for EB2.

If you or your employee or client does not have the education or work experience to meet EB2 education requirements right off the bat, they may still qualify for this classification. There are ways a credential evaluator with in-depth understanding of CIS precedents, federal case law, international education, and international trade agreements can write the evaluation needed to get the visa approved. However, this is NOT a judgment call you can make on your own.

Your best solution to the EB2 education puzzle is to ask for help.

Before you get too far on the petition, let us review the case. Simply go to ccifree.com and submit the candidate’s educational documents and a current, accurate resume, along with the job and desired educational equivalency. We will get back to you within 24 hours with a pre-evaluation and full analysis, and consult with you on your options.

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.

Your Best Solution to the EB2 Education Puzzle Read More »

EB2 or EB3? Know which one before you file!

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Oftentimes, candidates are tempted to file for EB2 instead of EB3 because the processing time can be years shorter. However, EB2 is scrutinized VERY carefully and requirements surrounding educational equivalencies for this particular visa are very strict and different from EB2. This can sometimes motivate candidates to say that the education is more than it actually is. Sometimes the misunderstanding is a mistake. Don’t take anything for granted, be 100% certain of the education you’re working with. Filing for EB2 with EB3 education successfully is a long shot and should only be done once EB3 is secured.

Before you get too far on the petition, let us review provide a pre-evaluation with all of your options so you can make the right decision about which classification to file for. Simply hit visit ccifree.com and attach the candidate’s resume and educational documents along with the job title or desired academic equivalency. We will get back to you within 24 hours with the pre-evaluation and a full analysis of all of your options.

One major difference between EB2 and EB3 is that EB3 allows for education to be combined, if, and only if it is so stated on the PERM. EB2 requires a single source degree. However, there are some interesting ways “around” it that have worked.

Both EB2 and EB3 visas are Green Card (permanent residency) visas, and the requirements are education-based for academics and skilled professionals. CIS takes two key aspects into account when assessing eligibility for these visas:

  1. The candidate’s job.
  2. The candidate’s education.

For both EB2 and EB3, the job must hold as a minimum requirement the visa’s education requirements, and the candidate must meet these requirements within CIS guidelines for equivalency. That means the candidate must hold the required degree or training for the job, and the degree must be in the exact field of the job.

EB3 is for skilled, unskilled, or professional workers. These requirements are different for the different kinds of jobs. If the job is classified as skilled work, to meet EB3 requirements the job must require at least two years of training or job experience, and the candidate must have this education or experience. For jobs classified as professional, the job must require and the candidate must hold a US bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent in that field. If the job is classified as “other” or unskilled, the job must require and the candidate require less than two years of training, and the job must be permanent to meet CIS requirements for EB3.

As you can see, EB3 is a broad classification that most candidates can meet. EB2 visa requirements are much more strict and have very specific requirements surrounding equivalencies for candidate with degrees from outside of the United States.

To meet EB2 requirements, candidates must either have:

  1. A US bachelor’s degree or a SINGLE SOURCE equivalent FOLLOWED BY five years of progressive work experience in the field, or
  2. A US Master’s Degree or higher or its foreign equivalent.

For candidates with education outside of the United States, meeting EB2 education requirements can be difficult because of the single source equivalency rule. The Bachelor’s degree equivalency must be a single source, so when it comes writing equivalencies for three-year bachelor’s degrees, you or your employee or client may not be able to meet EB2 standards. For example, when we work with H1B visas, when candidates have three-year degrees and at least three years of progressive work experience in the field, we can write a credential evaluation that converts the three years of progressive work experience into one year of college credit in the field, signed off by a professor authorized to issue college credit for work experience. We can then add that additional year to the three-year degree and have what CIS would accept as the equivalency of a US four-year Bachelor’s degree. The does NOT work for EB2 because the Bachelor’s degree must be a single source, so combining years of education with work experience will just result in an RFE or Denial.

If you or your employee or client has a three-year Bachelor’s degree and no additional education, their best option is to file for EB3 as a skilled worker with an Associate’s degree and work experience. Filing for EB2 would be a waste of time.

However, there are situations where a candidate DOES qualify for EB2 with a detailed credential evaluation. Before you get too far on your case or your employee or client’s case, visit ccifree.com and submit the candidate’s educational documents and a current, accurate resume, along with the job or desired equivalency. We will get back to you within 24 hours with a pre-evaluation of the candidate’s education, a full analysis, and an overview of all of your options.

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.

EB2 or EB3? Know which one before you file! Read More »

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