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Case Study: H1B Visa Approved with NO College

H1B educational requirements state that to qualify a candidate must hold a US bachelors degree or higher or its equivalent. What if you have, or your employee or client has the specialized skills and expertise necessary to excel that the job, but no college experience?

The trick is in the equivalency. At TheDegreePeople, we write evaluations every year for clients who got their education on-the-job, and through training that took place outside of a degree track.

Here’s how it works:

CIS accepts that three years of progressive work experience is the equivalent of one year of college credit in the field. You will need to document how during this work experience you or your employee or client took on an increasing level of responsibility in their work, and the duties of their work took on an increasingly higher level of complexity and specialization. This works similar to testing – you, or your client or employee clearly engaged in education on the job because they “tested out” by evidence of the nature of their work including skills and knowledge they learned on the job that they hadn’t known or been trusted to apply before.

Only a professor with the authority to grant college credit for work experience can write the evaluation you need, or your employee or client needs to get their H1B visa approved. Don’t wait until the last minute to order this evaluation. You need to know as soon as possible whether or not you have, or your employee or client has the progressive work experience needed to account for the missing degree.

We have professors on hand 24 hours a day 7 days a week to work with you. For a free review of your case, or your employee or client’s case, visit ccifree.com and submit the resume and educational documents, and indicate the occupation. We will get back to you in 48 hours or less with a full analysis and our recommendations.

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Attention: H1B Quota Opens April 1st for Fiscal Year 2019!

April 1st is coming right up! This is the date when CIS begins accepting cap-subject H1B petitions, and at TheDegreePeople, we predict the quota will be met within 5 business days.

While demand for H1B visas continues to rise, there are still only 65,000 visas available for employees with US Bachelors degrees or their equivalency or higher, and an additional 20,000 for employees with US Masters degrees or their equivalent or higher. Last year, CIS accepted 236,000 petitions in five days. CIS is required to accept petitions for at least five business days, or until the quota has been exceeded.

We predict that this year will be no different, giving beneficiaries, their employers, and their lawyers a very small window to file. When the number of petitions exceeds the visas available, CIS uses a randomized lottery to select visas. That means you need to be all ready to file on April 1st.

While there’s nothing you can do for yourself, or your employee or client against lottery odds, you can make sure they 1) get into the lottery by filing on April 1st, and 2) file an impeccable petition that will be easy to approve.

When you’re organizating the petition, keep in mind that some jobs and degrees are RFE magnets. For example, the Indian three-year bachelors degree will likely trigger an RFE if there is no credential evaluation included in the petition that converts work experience into a fourth year of college credit. The job Computer Systems Analysis tends to trigger RFEs because there are hardly any US bachelors degree majors with that exact title. That means candidates with this job need to include a credential evaluation with their petition that shows they have the equivalent of a degree in Computer Systems Analysis or an RFE will arrive instead of approval.

Last year, we saw an unprecedented number of RFEs for computer programmers at level 1 wages. If your, or your employee or client is in this situation, you will want to include an expert opinion letter explaining why the job meets H1B specialization requirements.

Before you file, let us review your case. We have experts and credential evaluators on hand to write the evaluation or opinion letter your client needs to prevent an RFE. Visit ccifree.com for a no charge and no obligation review of your petition, or your employee or client’s petition before you file. We will get back to you in 48 hours or less with a full analysis and pre-evaluation, along with our recommendations.

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Get Those Visas Ready! H1B Season Starts April 1st

st, 2017 for visas for fiscal year 2018. The annual cap is 65,000 for candidates with bachelor’s degrees, and another 20,000 for candidates with master’s degrees of higher. This cap has not changed. Last year, CIS received a record 236,000 petitions in the first five days of opening its doors to petitions, during which CIS is mandated to continue to accept petitions even if the cap is exceeded. After that point, the petitions go into a randomized lottery for review for approval. Every year, more and more petitions have come in, exceeding the annual H1B cap in the first week. There will almost certainly be an H1B lottery again this year. That means if you or your employee or client has a cap-subject H1B job and is petitioning for a visa for FY2018, the petition MUST be filed on April 1st or very shortly after to make the lottery. Make sure that when you file, everything you or your employee or client needs to get the visa approved is included. If you or your employee or client has a degree that doesn’t fit their job title, a foreign degree, a three-year bachelor’s degree, or any other unusual education situation, do not file without first consulting with a foreign credential evaluation agency that specializes in H1B visas. Making the lottery only to receive an RFE or worse is not worth the time, money, and energy. 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.]]>

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