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EB2 visa

Case Study: EB-2 Education RFE – Overturned!

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

If you or your employee or client is applying for an EB-2 green card, their situation must meet two requirements:

  1. They must have been hired for a job that requires a US master’s degree or higher, or a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalent FOLLOWED BY at least five years of progressive work experience in the field.
  2. They must have the education required for the EB-2 qualified job or exceptional ability as clearly proven with a National Interest Waiver.

One of the most common RFEs EB-2 candidates run into is an education issue RFE.  Our client came to us with an Indian three-year bachelor’s degree, many years of progressive work experience, and an RFE.  He had the years of experience to more than cover the five years of progressive work experience following having earned the bachelor’s degree.  The issue arose because with EB-2 educational requirements the bachelor’s degree is required to be a SINGLE SOURCE and CIS does not accept that the Indian three-year degree is the equivalent of the US four-year bachelor’s degree regardless of the number of classroom contact hours.  CIS requires the missing fourth year to be accounted for.

With other visas, like H-1B, our client could have included a work experience conversion that converts three years of progressive work experience in a given field of specialization into one year of college education towards that degree to account for the missing year.  This does not work for EB-2 because that would not meet the equivalency requirement of a single source bachelor’s degree.

Our solution was to write a credential evaluation fortified by CIS approval precedents and federal case law that took twelve years of our client’s progressive work experience in the field and converted it into the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in the field.  Then, the next five years of work experience were included to meet EB-2 educational standards requiring a single source US bachelor’s degree FOLLOWED BY five years of work experience in the field.  The RFE was overturned.

If you or your employee or client is facing an education RFE for EB-2, let us help you.  Even the candidate doesn’t have the years to cover a complete work experience conversion, there are other ways to address the equivalency issue through detailed credential evaluations tailored to your or your employee or client’s unique situation, and through expert opinion letters and National Interest Waiver options.  Let us review your case for free.  Visit ccifree.com.  We will respond in 48 hours or less.

Case Study: EB-2 Education RFE – Overturned! Read More »

I-140 Prevention and Solutions

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Form I-140 is a frustrating place to run into trouble for education-based visa beneficiaries and their sponsors. With the rising prevalence of RFEs for visas of all types, it is far from rare for applicants to get through the PERM phase only to receive an RFE for Form I-140.

If you, or your employee or receives an RFE on Form I-140, don’t panic. While this is a bump in the road, it is also an opportunity to strengthen the case so long as you understand what CIS is looking for. In these three common Form I-140 RFEs, the key to success is understanding where evidence and consistency was lacking, and how to fix it to get that visa approved.

Position indicated on Form I-140 fit the category indicated in Part 2.

Part 2 is where you must indicate the visa classification. This is based on what credentials are required as minimum requirements for entry into the position. You must choose a classification, and you must ONLY choose one. Applicants selecting the EB2 category tend to run into the most trouble here. The EB2 category requires the position and the beneficiary to hold a minimum of a US Master’s degree in the field, or a Bachelor’s degree in the field FOLLOWED BY five years of progressive work experience, or its equivalent. Since EB2 processing time is much faster than the EB3 classification, beneficiaries and their sponsors have incentive to try to make the position – and the candidate – fit into the wrong category. Oftentimes, the positiondoes fit into the EB2 classification, but sufficient evidence and expert analysis is lacking, and this is what you need to provide in your RFE response.

Answers between the PERM and Form I-140 are inconsistent.

Inconsistent answers between forms are a surefire way to trigger an RFE. Make sure answers are consistent in their content and in their spelling between forms. If there are amendments, make sure to check yes for Part 4, Item 7 accompanied by an attached explanation of any changes made on a bright colored sheet placed directly beneath Form I-140. Write that the PERM has already been submitted and that this is an amended petition. Include the receipt number for the PERM. This way, inconsistencies between the PERM and I-140 will be clearly explained to CIS and they will not have to ask inquire about it. Sometimes they will anyway, but you will have already strengthened your case with the amendment and this will help you greatly in an RFE arrives.

The petition did not include a credential evaluation or included the WRONG credential evaluation.

If the beneficiary’s degree or degrees were earned outside of the United States, a credential evaluation will be needed to clearly show the educational value of the degree in question by US educational standards. If the degree does not match the field of employ, or if there is incomplete college – or no college, but a lot of work experience in the field – a credential evaluation will be needed to close any gaps between the education the beneficiary has, and the education the beneficiary needs to meet the educational requirements of the category indicated in Part 2 of Form I-140. If a credential evaluation is not included and the beneficiary has anything but a straightforward degree earned in the US in the exact field of the job in question, it will likely trigger an RFE. Choosing the right credential evaluator is essential because educational requirements when it comes to equivalencies differ between visas. If the evaluator doesn’t ask about your, or your employee or client’s job or visa, look elsewhere. The agency should not rely solely on online equivalency databases, but rather have their own updated reference library that includes CIS approval precedents, federal caselaw, and international trade agreements regarding employment and education portability.

At TheDegreePeople, we have experts in every field on hand to write expert opinion letters to strengthen your case, or your employee or client’s case, and evaluators with extensive experience in international education, college and graduate program admissions, and working with Form I-140 cases and their RFEs.

For a free review of your case, visit ccifree.com/. We will get back to you in 48 hours or less.

I-140 Prevention and Solutions Read More »

Right Degree, Wrong Major: How to Avoid an EB2 Education RFE

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Green card beneficiaries seeking EB2 status need to either hold a US master’s degree or a US bachelor’s degree followed by five years of progressive work experience, or the equivalency of one of these requirements.

What if you, or your employee or client holds a degree with a major in a field related to the EB2 job? Employers will often hire workers with degrees in related fields because there is enough skill and knowledge overlap to ensure the worker will be able to perform the duties of the job. Then, CIS will not approve the visa.

In recent years, CIS has tightened its approval standards, only approving beneficiaries with degree specializations that exactly match the job title on the PERM. If you, or your employee or client has a degree in a related field that doesn’t exactly match the EB2 job, you need to include a credential evaluation with the petition that meets equivalency requirements by specific EB2 standards.

This is where the second problem arises: for EB2, the bachelor’s degree must be a single source. That means you must, or your employee or client must either have a US bachelor’s degree in the exact field of the EB2 job, or enough years of progressive work experience to account for the entire degree equivalency. That’s twelve years of progressive work experience because a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience can convert three years or work experience in the field into one year of college credit.

At TheDegreePeople, we have developed several creative strategies to address degree equivalencies for EB2 to prevent the mismatched education RFE from years of working with EB2 cases and their RFEs. For a free review of your case, or your client or employee’s case, visit ccifree.com.

Right Degree, Wrong Major: How to Avoid an EB2 Education RFE Read More »

Mismatched Education EB2 RFE – Triggers and Solutions

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Employers will hire workers who meet the degree requirement in a related field because there is enough overlap in specialized skills and knowledge to do a quality job. However, none of this matters to CIS. Over the past seven or eight years, CIS has been issuing RFEs for beneficiaries with degrees in related fields because they are not an exact match to the job title on the PERM.

While this detail may not stop the new hire from performing their job excellently, it will get in the way of CIS approving their visa, and the bottom line is CIS gets their way.

The best way to address this RFE is to avoid it in the first place. Here’s how:

When you file the beneficiary’s EB2 petition, make sure to include a credential evaluation that takes EB2 educational standards, the job, and CIS approval trends into consideration. The right credential evaluation is written by an agency that works regularly with EB2 cases and their RFEs, keeps up to date on CIS approval trends, international trade agreements, and federal case law, and has an in-depth understanding of education internationally. When it comes to EB2, the bachelors degree must be a single source. That means that a creative approach is often needed that requires in-depth understanding of international education. Sometimes a work experience conversion is needed, other times writing a functional equivalency works best. It all depends on the beneficiary’s education and resume, and on the job in question.

If your education, or if your employee or client’s education is not an EXACT match for the job title on the perm, let us help you. Visit ccifree.com and submit the beneficiary’s educational documents and resume, and indicate the job in question. We will get back to you in 48 hours or less with our recommendations on what needs to be included in the evaluation you, or your client or employee needs to meet EB2 educational requirements.

Mismatched Education EB2 RFE – Triggers and Solutions Read More »

Source & Sequence: Get Your EB2 Education Right

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Every visa that leans heavily on education has different requirements, especially when it comes to equivalencies for education completed outside of the United States. The EB2 visa in particular is fraught with notorious education traps.

Before you file, make sure you, or your employee or client’s education checks out or you’ll end up with an RFE at best, instead of that approval.

The two big components of EB2 education to keep in mind and source and sequence. Candidates eligible for EB2 status have earned a US Masters degree or higher or its foreign equivalent, or have completed a US Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent followed by at least five years of progressive work experience in the field. Sounds simple enough, right? Not when it comes to equivalencies.

If you, or your employee or client has a degree from outside of the United States, or has a degree in a specialization that does not match the field of occupation, you will need to include a credential evaluation that fills in the gaps. Often, this includes converting progressive years of work experience in the field to years of college credit.

Remember, source and sequence are crucial. Consider, for example, you have, or your employee or client has an Indian three-year degree. You will need to account for the missing fourth year of education for CIS approval. Three years of progressive work experience in the field can be converted into the equivalent for one year of college credit towards that major. This also comes in handy when the degree specialization and job are mismatched. While other visas like H-1B will let you combine the three years of education, or education completed in the wrong major, with years of progressive work experience to meet equivalency and specialization requirements, that’s not how it works for EB2.

With EB2, the Bachelors degree must be a SINGLE SOURCE. This means your client will either need a US Bachelors or Masters degree in the exact field of the EB2 job, or a whole lot of progressive work experience.

The second component to remember is sequence. If you, or your employee or client holds a Bachelors degree or its single source equivalent, they will need an additional five years of progressive work experience, and this work experience must have occurred AFTER the Bachelors degree or its equivalency was earned. This shows that a Bachelors degree or its equivalent was a MINIMUM requirement for the following five years of work experience.

If you have any questions regarding your EB2 education, or your employee or client’s EB2 education, don’t let them go unanswered. Visit ccifree.com for a no charge and no obligation review of the. We will get back to you in 48 hours or less with a full analysis, pre-evaluation, and our recommendations.

Source & Sequence: Get Your EB2 Education Right Read More »

EB2 or EB3? – Find out Before You File

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

While there are extensive wait times for approval for both categories, EB2 has a much shorter wait time.  For this reason, it can be tempting for beneficiaries to try to meet EB2 requirements with EB3 education.

To qualify for EB2 status, a beneficiary must hold a US Masters degree or higher, or its foreign equivalent, OR a US Bachelors degree or its foreign equivalent FOLLOWED BY five years of progressive work experience.

It’s important to not here that simply having a Bachelors degree or its equivalent and five years of work experience in the field of the EB2 job is not enough to meet these requirements.  To count towards the educational qualifications, the work experience must follow having earned the Bachelors degree to show that the advanced education was a minimum requirement for the work experience.

Before filing, let us review your case, or your client or employee’s case.  It is not always clear whether or not the beneficiary will qualify for EB2 or EB3, and you definitely don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to file EB2.  The right credential evaluation takes the requirements of the visa into consideration, along with a whole host of other factors by which equivalency is determined.

For a free review, pre-evaluation, and analysis of your case, or your client or employee’s case, simply go to ccifree.com and submit your clients resume and educational documents.  We will get back to you within 48 hours with our recommendations.

EB2 or EB3? – Find out Before You File 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 »

The difference between an evaluation for college study, for H1B, and for I140, and why you need to know.

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


For example, let’s take a look at the three-year degree. Many US universities will accept an evaluation that shows the three-year degree is equivalent to a US bachelor’s degree for admission into US Master’s programs. No problem.

However, try taking that same three-year degree to CIS for H1B eligibility and you will run into trouble in a hurry. Regardless of what the evaluation says, the three-year bachelor’s degree will not be accepted for the H1B on its own. However, with a different evaluation in which work experience is added to the three-year degree by a professor authorized to issue college credit for work experience, this degree equivalency is allowed for H1B eligibility because it accounts for the missing fourth year of college through work experience.

Now comes I140. Will the same evaluation you used for H1B work for I140? No. CIS regulations surrounding combining education and work experience vary greatly between these visas. Will that same evaluation used to gain entrance into a US Master’s program work for I140? Not necessarily. For EB3, the answer is almost always yes. For EB2, if there is only a three-year degree, the answer is sometimes but not very often. But if you have a two-year Master’s and some work experience for EB2, we can provide a solution that is always approved!

Confusing? Yes.

How do you know what to do? You don’t. But the right evaluator does. If you need an evaluation for CIS, be sure you use an evaluator who understands the regulations. Otherwise, you may end up with an evaluation that is technically correct, but still results in a Denial.

At TheDegreePeople, we keep one eye on the education, and one eye on CIS. We ask questions about the visa to make sure we provide you with the best possible match based on the visa you, or your employee or client is filing.

Come to us before you file. We can review everything at no charge and eliminate any situations that simply won’t work. This will save you a great deal of time, money, and peace of mind.

For a full analysis and pre-evaluation of any case, simply visit www.ccifree.com, fill out the short form, and attach all required documents. We will get back to you in less than 24 hours at absolutely no charge with 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.]]>

The difference between an evaluation for college study, for H1B, and for I140, and why you need to know. Read More »

What is a Degree? – Find out Before You File!

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


Before you file, make sure you know what education you’re working with. All you have to do is go to ccifree.com, let us know the visa and job, and attach the candidate’s educational documents and resume. Within 24 hours, we will send you a pre-evaluation and full analysis of all of your options. You will know what you’re working with, and be able to move forward accordingly.

It’s not uncommon for candidates to insist that their high school diploma is a college degree, or for a translated document to report a false academic equivalency.

This happens for two main reasons. First, many degrees don’t actually have the word “degree” in the title. When this is translated, it is unclear whether or not the candidate actually has earned the postsecondary education necessary to meet the academic qualifications for their visa. On the same note, some credentials that do have the word degree in the title are not the academic equivalent of US postsecondary education, and some credentials don’t have the word “degree” in the title and are not degrees, period. Some countries have the same titles for different education. For example, the Indian Chartered Accountancy certification is the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in accounting while the Canadian Chartered Accountancy certification is not.

The second reason this happens is because when documents are translated from their original language into English, some degree titles don’t actually have a direct linguistic translation into English. Others do, but the academic value is different. It’s easy for translators to accidentally insert misinformed judgment into the academic value of a degree through translation. It is always best for translators to simply perform a direct translation and then have the documents passed onto a credential evaluator for the next step.

Understanding the value of a foreign degree requires a complex, specialized understanding of international education. Understanding the structures of education and the educational steps required to earn each credential, as well as international trade agreements, graduate program admissions trends, CIS trends and precedents, and federal case law is required to write an accurate evaluation that CIS will understand and accept.

Before you file, make sure you, or your employee or client has the right education for the visa. If you’ve already received an RFE, it’s not too late! Simply go to ccifree.com and submit the educational documents and a current resume, and indicate the visa and job. We will get back to you within 24 hours with a pre-evaluation of your case and all of your options for evaluation.

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.]]>

What is a Degree? – Find out Before You File! Read More »

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