Need Help?
Message Sheila D, Executive Director with any questions
9544450107

h1b RFE

You Can Sidestep the Most Common H1B RFEs

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

H1B filing season is right around the corner, and the trend of increasing rates of RFEs is expected to continue. That means when you organize your petition, or your employee or client’s petition to file, sidestepping any RFEs that may be thrown your way must be a priority.

At TheDegreePeople, we help our clients answer H1B RFEs every year. Sometimes you can’t control whether or not you or your employee or client receives an RFE because CIS makes mistakes. However, there are a handful of common RFEs that can and should be avoided. Based on recent years, here are two of the most common RFEs that can be easily avoided by anticipating the evidence CIS requires in the initial filing.

Degree does not match the job title

We expect this CIS approval trend that emerged about six or seven years ago to hold strong. Your degree, or your employee client’s degree must be an exact match for the job. H1B visa holders must work specialty jobs and have the specialized skills and expertise required to perform the duties of these jobs. To prove specialization, you or your employee or client must either hold a degree in that exact field, or have the individual credits and work experience to write an equivalency to that exact field. For example, if you or your employee or client has a job in finance and a Bachelor’s degree in business, you need to include a credential evaluation that takes a close look at the candidate’s courses taken in finance, as well as work experience in the field of finance. Work experience – so long as the candidate took on progressively more responsibility through this work – can be converted into years of college credit with three years of work experience equating to one year of college credit in the field. This evaluation is necessary to sidestep this VERY common RFE.

Three-year bachelor’s degree

At TheDegreePeople, we work with many clients with Indian three-year Bachelor’s degrees. Every year, we see that without a credential evaluation, virtually all of these clients receive an RFE. In the past, we’ve been able to answer these RFEs by showing that the course content of three-year degrees is the equivalent to a US four-year bachelor degree by converting classroom contact hours into college credit hours using the Carnegie Unit conversion of fifteen classroom contact hours to one hour of college credit. However, last year it did not work. Luckily, we always have a plan B.

This year, if you or your employee or client has a three-year bachelor’s degree, you should understand right off the bat that your client will need a work experience conversion to get the H1B visa approved. CIS is hung up on that missing fourth year, and at the end of the day, it’s up to them whether or not to approve your visa, or your employee or client’s visa. Consult with a credential evaluation agency about the candidate’s education and work experience and include a credential evaluation with a work experience conversion in the initial H1B filing on April 1st.

If either or both of these situation matches that of you or your employee or client, do not file without the appropriate work experience conversion. It’s important to remember that not all credential evaluation agencies are authorized to make this work experience conversion. Only a college or university professor is authorized to issue college credit for years of progressive work experience. The credential evaluation agency you want to work with has these professors on staff or on contract to write the evaluation you or your employee or client needs to sidestep an education 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.

You Can Sidestep the Most Common H1B RFEs Read More »

2017 H1B Education Trends You Need to Know Before Your File

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals

It’s the New Year and that means H1B filing season is coming up sooner than you expect. We predict that last years educational trends will still be influential in 2017. Over the past six or seven years, educational trends regarding H1b approval have gotten more strict and specific. At the same time, several recurrent H1B traps have also presented themselves.

Before you file in 2017, be aware of CIS approval trends and common mistakes candidates make when filing.

Three-Year Bachelor’s Degrees

CIS has not been approving candidates with three-year bachelor’s degrees, PARTICULARLY the Indian three-year bachelor’s degree. International education experts understand that in most cases the academic content is the same if not greater than a US four-year bachelor’s degree just condensed into three years. CIS still requires the missing fourth year be accounted for, and that’s what really matters in this situation.

If you or your employee or client has a three-year bachelor’s degree, DO NOT make the mistake of submitting an H1B petition without making sure the missing fourth year is CLEARLY accounted for. This requires a detailed credential evaluation written by an evaluator with the authority to convert years of work experience into college credit. CIS allows for three years of work experience in the field in which the candidate took on progressively more roles, duties, and responsibilities of increasing complexity to be evaluated as the equivalent of one year of college credit. Talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with H1B cases involving three-year bachelor’s degrees.

Degree Specialization does not match the Job Offer

In the not-too-distant past, CIS would approve candidates with degrees in fields related to their industry. However, the past six or seven years has shown that CIS will ONLY approve petitions in which the degree specialization exactly matches the job offer, and we don’t predict that this trend will change any time soon.

If you or your employee or client has a degree in a major that is different from his or her field of employ, or has a generalized degree, or has an job that doesn’t have many exact majors like Computer Systems Analysis, DO NOT make the mistake of filing with the transcripts alone. The H1B visa is for workers in highly specialized occupations and a highly specialized skill set. If your education or if your employee or client’s education alone does not show that he or she possesses the specialized skills and knowledge necessary for the field of employ, the H1B requirements are not CLEARLY met. This doesn’t mean that the candidate isn’t qualified, especially since the employer clearly seems to think so. What you need to do in this case is send your or your employee or client’s transcripts and work history to a credential evaluator who can write a detailed evaluation that explains the equivalency of your experience, or your employee or client’s experience to a Bachelor’s degree in the right specialization. This means looking at the course content, as well as years of progressive work experience in the field, and writing a thorough evaluation backed by evidence, precedent decisions, and documentation.

Degree that Doesn’t Call itself a “Degree”

Some certifications from countries outside of the US are the functional equivalent of US bachelor’s degrees. This means that while these degrees don’t call themselves “degrees,” the steps required to earn these certifications are the equivalent of the US academic value of a bachelor’s degree. One such certification is the Indian Chartered Accountancy. While the Canadian Chartered Accountancy and the US CPA are do not contain the steps required for a bachelor’s degree equivalency, the Indian Chartered Accountancy does.

If you or your employee or client has a degree that doesn’t call itself a degree like the Indian Chartered Accountancy, DO NOT make the mistake of filing without a credential evaluation that explains the functional equivalency of your education or your employee or client’s education. This is a very detailed process that requires a lot of CIS hand-holding, taking them through the steps of education of the degree step by step.

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.

2017 H1B Education Trends You Need to Know Before Your File Read More »

Your Most Common H1B RFE for 2017

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals

Looking back on the past few years, we see one occupation that stands out for getting the most H1B RFEs year after year. In 2017, we predict that this trend will remain intact. The answer is – Computer Systems Analysis.

This occupation receives the very most H1B RFEs every year because CIS education trends have required candidates to hold a degree in the exact field of their specialty occupation. Computer Systems Analysis is an EXTREMELY rare degree. In fact, the only schools in the United States in which a student can earn a bachelor’s degree in Computer Systems Analysis allow for self-designed majors. In India, there is a BCA in Computer Systems Analysis, but this degree will not work for H1B eligibility on its own because it is a three-year bachelor’s degree. CIS requires the fourth year included in a US bachelor’s degree to be accounted for. The only degree we have not seen trigger an RFE in this case is a US Master’s degree for Computer Analysis.

If you hold, or if your employee or client holds one of the few US bachelor’s degrees in Computer Systems Analysis, or a US Master’s in Computer Analysis, you probably don’t have to worry about an education RFE. However, if this isn’t the case, it’s always easier to prevent an RFE in the first place than to have to answer one.

If you have, or if your employee or client has an Indian BCA in Computer Systems Analysis, you need to account for the missing fourth year of education to meet the US equivalency requirements. To do this, talk to a credential evaluator with the authority to convert years of progressive work experience into college credit. Three years working in the field of Computer Systems Analysis in which it can be shown that you or your employee or client took on more responsibility and complexity in their work can be converted into the missing year of college credit towards the degree specialization of Computer Systems Analysis. If you or your employee or client does not have this degree, the same progressive work experience conversion along with a detailed evaluation that includes college coursework in the field of Computer Systems Analysis can be employed to write an equivalency to a US Bachelor’s or Master’s of Computer Systems Analysis.

Before you file, talk to a credential evaluator who can review your case, or your employee or client’s case and see that the college credit and work experience necessary to write the evaluation you or your employee or client needs is there. When there is high risk of RFE, it is necessary to consult with someone experienced in working with H1B RFEs.

From all of us at TheDegreePeople.com, Happy New Year!

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.

Your Most Common H1B RFE for 2017 Read More »

Expert Tips for You To Successfully Answer an H1B RFE

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

It’s H1B RFE season and there’s a one in four chance that you or your employee or client received one. RFEs have become increasingly common over the past several years, and CIS approval trends regarding H1B education have changed. RFEs have become not only more common, but also more complex and confusing. For example, the Nightmare RFE, which is virtually impossible to answer, is appearing more and more in the mailboxes of H1B applicants.

At TheDegreePeople, we specialize in helping our clients overturn their RFEs and get their H1B visas approved. RFEs are tricky business, so here are five tips that we have seen bring our clients success year after year.

  1. Don’t expect your RFE to tell you how to answer it.

A big mistake candidates and their lawyers make every year is expecting the RFE to be helpful. When you read the RFE, remember that it is a tool CIS uses to weed out petitions. It’s a red flag. There are far too many petitions for the annual H1B visa cap every year and your RFE or your employee or client’s RFE is most likely a documented excuse for denial rather than a tool to help you. Read the RFE, make note of what it’s asking, but don’t get caught up in its wording and specific demands. Remember, some RFEs are virtually impossible to answer based on the directions they provide. This does not mean they’re impossible to answer. You just need to look for the answers in the right places.

  1. Reference and Understand H1B Requirements.

The initial H1B eligibility requirements are the right place to look for the answers you need to get that RFE overturned. Your RFE, or your employee or client’s RFE was triggered because the evidence provided in the initial petition fell short of clearly proving the initial H1B requirements were met. Find out which requirements CIS is unclear about. When you go over the RFE, first revisit the detailed requirements INCLUDING current CIS educational trends, and then have these requirements on hand while you read through the RFE to discern where evidence was lacking. Then, figure out what documentation you need to fill in the gaps.

  1. Don’t expect to always be able to provide the specific materials the RFE requests.

You will NOT always be able to get the specific documents CIS requests in the time allotted to answer the RFE. RFEs like The Nightmare are not designed to be answered, they are designed to confuse and justify denying the visa. If you follow the directions in an RFE like this one, you will find yourself out of time, out of money, and nowhere closer to getting your visa, or your employee or client’s visa approved. So don’t expect to in the first place and you will save yourself a whole heap of stress.

  1. Discern what it is CIS really wants to know.

So you’ve reviewed the initial H1B requirements, you understand that the answer to your RFE does not lie within the RFE itself, and you know that you won’t necessarily be able to provide the exact documentation CIS requests in the RFE. Now it’s time to discern what CIS really wants to know. Sit down together, read the RFE with the initial H1B requirements, and figure out what CIS really wants to know. Where was clarity lacking in the initial petition? In many cases, the shortcomings have to do with CIS approval trends regarding educational equivalencies, or with proving specialization. When you meet with your team, be sure that your team includes a credential evaluator with experience working with H1B RFEs, understands CIS education regulations and approval trends, and has an in-depth understanding of international education. Education requirements and what is and what is not accepted as valid educational equivalencies for H1B visas have changed in recent years, and meeting these requirements can take a creative approach.

  1. MEET THE DEADLINE.

Don’t miss the deadline. Make sure your RFE answer is filed by the deadline, and includes all of the documentation and evidence you need to strengthen your case, or your employee or client’s case, in order, and easy to read. It is highly unlikely you will get an extension, and missing the deadline will most likely lead to the case getting rejected.

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.

Expert Tips for You To Successfully Answer an H1B RFE Read More »

H1B Case Study: How to Overturn an RFE for Generalized Degree

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Education is a central component of H1B eligibility. This visa is for foreign nationals who work in specialty occupations that require advanced degrees and skills and understanding specialized to their position. If the job does not require a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent, the job is not considered specialized enough to qualify. Likewise, if a candidate does not hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent, their qualifications are not considered specialized enough to qualify.

What if you or your employee or client has a US bachelor’s degree in liberal arts? The answer is CIS would issue an RFE because this generalized degree does not show that the candidate has specialized skills and knowledge. For this reason, candidates with generalized degrees often run into trouble come RFE season.

When a client comes to us with this kind of situation, we take a look at the content of his or her education. We look at the course content and identify specific courses taken in the field of their H1B job. We then look at their work experience in the field of their H1B job. Three years of progressive work experience in the field can be equated to one year of college credit towards a US bachelor’s degree in that major. We then write an evaluation taking specific courses and work experience into account and write a very detailed and evidence-fortified evaluation that clearly shows the candidate has the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in the field of the H1B job. Through this extra step, CIS can clearly see that the candidate possesses the specialized skills and understanding required to be successful at the H1B job, and eligible for H1B visa status.

If you or your employee or client has received an RFE for a generalized degree, talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with H1B RFEs. Be sure to get a consultation before you order an evaluation to make sure that the candidate has the coursework and work experience necessary to write the evaluation you need to overturn that 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 Case Study: How to Overturn an RFE for Generalized Degree Read More »

H1B Case Study: Nightmare RFE OVERTURNED!

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

What is the H1B RFE that strikes fear into the hearts of immigration attorneys and causes nightmares for their clients who receive them? The Nightmare RFE!

This RFE is also called the Kitchen Sink because absolutely everything is in it, even the kitchen sink. This RFE is virtually impossible to answer, we don’t know exactly what triggers it or if CIS even has the right to issue it, and we know that it is virtually impossible to answer by following its own directions. If you were to try to follow the directions set out in the RFE to answer it, you would have to involve the services of so many individuals and authorities to collect all of the evidence and information requested that it would cost an enormous amount of money and take way more time to complete than you have to respond.

If you or your employee or client received a Nightmare RFE, try not to panic. These RFEs are common, and they are NOT actually impossible to answer so long as you don’t get caught up in the wording. The roadmap to successfully answering the Nightmare RFE is not in the RFE itself, it takes a creative approach and guidance from a credential evaluator with experience working with difficult cases and RFEs. These evaluators understand H1B requirements, international education and commerce agreements, and CIS approval trends.

At TheDegreePeople, we have a very high success rate for getting Nightmare RFEs overturned. It just takes a very detailed, and somewhat creative approach. Instead of following the directions stated in the RFE, we go back to the initial H1B requirements and see where our client’s initial petition was lacking in evidence and clarity. We work from there.

Oftentimes, what is lacking is the right credential evaluation. We have found time and again that candidates will submit a petition without an evaluation, or with an evaluation that doesn’t address the requirements of the H1B petition. An H1B candidate needs to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or it’s foreign equivalent in the EXACT field of their job offer. If these educational requirements are not clearly met, CIS issues an RFE, and what starts off as a simple RFE can quickly escalate into a Nightmare. Again, these kinds of RFEs have become increasingly common in the past few years and this trend is unlikely to change.

It’s always better to avoid a Nightmare RFE in the first place than to find yourself faced with one, but even if you are staring at one right now, you can still get it overturned.

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 Case Study: Nightmare RFE OVERTURNED! Read More »

How to Answer and H-1B RFE with NO DEGREE

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals

H-1B education requirements demand that a candidate for this visa hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent. Do you or does your employee or client have the skills and knowledge needed to excel at their specialty, H-1B qualified job, but no degree to show for it? This is more common than expected as highly skilled workers are often self-taught, or learned skills on the job rather than through traditional education. While this is not the norm, an ample chunk of H-1B beneficiaries learned in the classroom of the workplace rather than in a college or university. Employers hire these creatively educated workers and then CIS sends them RFEs when they file for the H-1B visa.

Sometimes an H-1B candidate will have SOME college or university education but no degree completed. Sometimes there will be no college education at all. CIS does have a solution for this, but you or your employee or client will need a very specific kind of work experience for this to work, and a VERY specific and detailed credential evaluation accompanying the answer to the RFE.

CIS generally accepts that three years of progressive work experience in the field of your or your employee or client’s H-1B job is the equivalency of one year of college credit towards a bachelor’s degree in that field. PROGRESSIVE work experience means that the job duties expanded in scope and responsibility as employment went on, implying that you or your employee or client learned increasingly specialized skills on the job.

If you or your employee or client has some education – or no education – and enough years of progressive work experience, an evaluator with the authority to convert years of this work experience into college credit can write the evaluation you or your employee or client needs to prove to CIS that there is a legitimate US bachelor’s degree equivalency. Remember, the degree specialization must exactly match the job, so the progressive work experience MUST be in the field of employ.

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.

How to Answer and H-1B RFE with NO DEGREE Read More »

Answering an H1B RFE: Beware of Education Traps!

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Some of the most common H1B RFEs are the result of your case, or your employee or client’s case falling into an H1B education trap. The H1B visa is for highly skilled workers coming to the United States with a US bachelor’s degree or higher, or its foreign equivalent to work specialty occupations. This particular visa weighs heavily on educational requirements for approval, and these requirements get tricky in a hurry. Education systems, structures, and functional equivalencies vary from country to country. This gets even messier when degrees in different countries have the same linguistic translation but different educational values.

If you or your employee or client fell into an H1B education trap, you need to understand what happened and how you can fix it when answering the RFE. Below we will look at some common H1B traps and how to climb your way out of them.

Badly Translated Transcripts

When you submit an H1B petition, CIS requires all educational documents be translated into English and evaluated for US academic equivalence. Some degrees simply don’t translate directly into English. At the same time, many degrees do translate directly into English when it comes to the wording, but the degree has an entirely different academic content. This is why degrees must be translated AND evaluated, and these are both highly specialized fields. Sometimes translation agencies overstep their scope of practice and make educational value judgments along with language translation. This is a major H1B education trap that has become more and more treacherous as some translation agencies have begun to market their services as a “one-shop stop” for translation and evaluation. Credential evaluation must be carried out on a case-by-case basis because every pathway through learning is unique, every institution is unique, and every country has a unique structure. An evaluator must be knowledgeable about these differences, as well as federal case law, CIS precedents, degree program admissions requirements, and international trade agreements to write an accurate evaluation of your degree, or your employee or client’s degree. Translation agencies simply do not have this expertise and instead turn to conservative equivalency databases like EDGE, which is not actually a standardized equivalency database as no such database actually exists.

If you or your employee or client received an RFE as the result of a bad translation, talk to a credential evaluation agency that works regularly with H1B RFE cases. A skilled evaluator can spot a bad translation and evaluate accordingly.

The degree is not from a government-accredited institution.

The fact is, there are plenty of institutions around the world that offer rigorous education programs that fully prepare workers for highly specialized occupations that are not actually government accredited. That means that even though you or your employee or client may have a legitimate education from an institution held in high regard by your industry, or your employee or client’s industry, the institution itself may not be government accredited and CIS will not approve the visa.

This is an RFE trap that you may or may not be able to wriggle free of. If you have, or if your employee or client has years of progressive work experience in the field of their specialty occupation, a credential evaluator with the authority to convert years of work experience into college credit to write a US bachelor’s degree equivalency CIS will accept. It’s always best to find whether or not this will work BEFORE you file the petition, but even if you fell into this H1B trap for FY2017 you may still be able to answer the RFE and get the visa approved.

The Bachelor’s Degree is ACTUALLY just a high school diploma.

This happens more often than you may think. Mistaking a high school diploma for a Bachelor’s degree can happen as the result of cross-cultural misunderstandings, bad translations, and acting upon false information. H1B educational criteria require candidates to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher, or its equivalent. A high school diploma – or the foreign equivalent of a US high school diploma – will not cut it.

If you or your employee or client fell into this H1B education trap, talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with H1B RFEs. If you have, or if your employee or client has any post-secondary education from an accredited institution, this can be counted towards a bachelor’s degree equivalency, along with any years of progressive work experience you have, or your employee or client has in the field of employ. This is a tough mistake to recover from, and you may even find out that you or your employee or client has been pursuing the wrong visa all along. However, there is still a chance that you can claw your way out of this H1B education trap.

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.

Answering an H1B RFE: Beware of Education Traps! Read More »

RFE? Surprise! The answer is not in the RFE

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

It’s RFE season, and that means if you or your employee or client received an RFE, you’re probably reading it over and trying to decide what to do. Before you go looking for answers in the RFE, stop!

Instead, read over the RFE, sit down with your team, and figure out which of the ORIGINAL H1B requirements are in question. Next, discern what evidence and analysis needs to be provided for you or your employee or client to clearly meet these requirements.

Put down that RFE, and remember the five key H1B qualifications:

1) The job must be a specialty occupation.

USCIS defines specialty occupation as a job so complex as to require a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent to perform. This is because specialized skills and knowledge are necessary to perform the duties of the job correctly. To show that your job, or your employee or client’s job is a specialty occupation, you can provide the advertisement for the job that includes minimum qualifications for the job. You should also provide ads for similar jobs in the same industry for companies of a similar size and scope. If your job, or your employee or client’s job holds higher requirements than similar jobs because this particular situation requires specialized knowledge, include an expert opinion letter clearly explaining why this is the case.

2) You, or your employee or client must have a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalency.

The H1B visa is for highly skilled workers to live in the United States and work jobs that require specialized skills and knowledge. CIS requires beneficiaries of the H1B visa to hold a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent. That means if you have, or your employee or client has a degree from outside of the United States – PARTICULARLY if it is a three-year bachelor’s degree or a degree that doesn’t call itself a degree like the Indian Chartered Accountancy certification – you need to submit a credential evaluation alongside the transcripts that clearly show its US academic value. This can be difficult because educational systems vary from country to country. The number of years it takes to complete secondary and post-secondary education are different, and the academic content is different. A credential evaluator with specialized understanding of international education as well as visa education requirements and CIS trends is needed to write the evaluation you need, or your employee or client needs to answer the RFE. CIS allows beneficiaries to combine years of progressive work experience in their field of employ – meaning the work experience required them to take on more responsibility as time went on – to fill in missing years in a degree. Three years of progressive work experience in the field can be converted into the equivalent of one year of college credit in your client’s specialization. This conversion requires a credential evaluator with the authority to convert work experience into college credit, and back it up with the necessary evidence and analysis.

3) The degree must match the field of employ.

Since your job, or your employee or client’s job is a specialty occupation, the education must be specialized to his or her field of employ. In recent years, CIS has required the degree specialization to be an EXACT match – whereas in the past they accepted education in a related field and employers regularly hire candidates with related degrees and direct work experience in the field. Of course, you need to answer the RFE with regards to CURRENT CIS approval trends, and that means your degree, or your employee or client’s degree specialization must match the job offer. If you or your employee or client has a generalized degree or a degree with a major that is not an exact match for the job, a credential evaluation that converts years of work experience in the field into college credit counting towards that specialization is in order. Additionally, a credential evaluator can take a close look at the course content of your degree, or your employee or client’s degree and count courses completed in the field of employ towards a degree with a major in that field. Talk to a credential evaluator with experience working with education RFEs and decide the best course of action to meet this requirement.

4) The beneficiary and employer must have an employer-employee relationship.

Employer-employee relationships means that the employer has the ability to hire, fire, promote, pay, supervise, and otherwise control the work the beneficiary does as an employee. If these terms are not clearly met, CIS will issue an RFE. To show you or your employee or client meet this requirement, you can submit the employee manual or contract agreement to show CIS the nature of this relationship.

5) The employer must pay the beneficiary the prevailing wages and benefits for the job.

The employer must pay the beneficiary the prevailing wages and benefits for the job, for companies of that size in that industry, and in that specific geographical location. To prove this, you need to provide evidence of what those prevailing wages and benefits are, as well as evidence that the employer will be meeting those standards. In addition, you must be able to show that the employer has the economic viability to do so without cutting resources from other employees or the company or organization itself. The economic viability of the beneficiary’s employer is key. To prove this, submit copies of the W-2 form, or pay stubs if the beneficiary is already employed in this position under a different visa status. You may also have to provide quarterly reports for the employer, tax information, or other evidence that shows that the beneficiary’s employer is able to provide prevailing wages and benefits.

Many RFEs have difficult wording and make virtually impossible evidence requests – most notably the Nightmare RFE. An RFE does not have the roadmap to successfully answer it contained within it. Read over the RFE, then return to the basics of what requirements need to be met for the H1B visa.

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.

RFE? Surprise! The answer is not in the RFE Read More »

5 Common H-1B RFEs and Their Solutions

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals

USCIS visa approval trends change with every year. When it comes to the H-1B visa, many of these trends center around education. The H-1B visa is for highly skilled workers coming to the United States to work specialty occupations. CIS defines a specialty occupation as one that requires a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its foreign equivalent to perform because the skills and knowledge necessary are specialized to the occupation and field. For this reason, education RFEs inquiring into details about candidates’ credentials are always common for this particular visa. Below are five common education RFEs you need to know about.

  1. The Job is not Clearly a Specialty Occupation

While this RFE is primarily related to the nature of the job, it is also an EDUCATION related RFE. The question is about what level of education is needed to meet the MINIMUM qualifications to perform this job. To prove that your job, or your employee or client’s job meets CIS requirements for being a “specialty occupation,” provide the ad for the job that states it minimum requirements. You should also provide ads for similar jobs in the same industry to show that it is a general requirement for employees holding this position to have a US bachelor’s degree or higher or its equivalent. If your job, or your employee or client’s job has specialized requirements unique to the company or organization, provide an expert opinion letter stating why specialized knowledge and skills are needed for your particular job, or your employee or client’s particular job but not in similar jobs in the same industry. Remember, when in doubt, go back to the original H-1B requirements and work from there.

  1. Right Degree, Wrong Specialization or No Specialization

Do your or does your employee or client have a US bachelor’s degree? This might not be enough. CIS requires H-1B visa holders to have a bachelor’s degree or higher in the major that exactly matches their field of employment. In the not-too-distant past, CIS would approve visas of candidates with degrees in related fields, but now these same petitions are met with RFEs at best. Since specialty occupations require specialized knowledge unique to the field, candidates with related majors or generalized degrees are not making the CIS educational cut. However, employers don’t just take on new hires without the knowledge and skills necessary to do the job. If you or your employee or client has the right skills and knowledge through classes outside of their major, as well as direct work experience in the field, you need to find a credential evaluator with the authority to convert years of work experience in the field into college credit that count towards the correct major specialization.

  1. Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree

An unfortunately common RFE arrives when a candidate has a three-year bachelor’s degree, particularly one from India. While the Indian three-year bachelor’s degree tends to have at least the same number of classroom contact hours as the four-year US bachelor’s degree, CIS still requires candidates to account for that missing fourth year. Simply submitting a three-year transcript without an evaluation or attempting to rely on the academic content vs. academic duration requirement will almost certainly trigger an RFE. Instead, talk with a credential evaluator with the authority to convert years of work experience into college credit to account for the missing fourth year.

  1. Degree has an Unclear US Equivalency

Some advanced degrees do not have a clear US equivalency. For example, the job that gets the most RFE’s is Computer Systems Analysis. This is because this degree is EXTREMELY rare, and with current educational trends candidates must hold a degree in that very rare specialization to meet CIS trends. Another example of this is the Indian Chartered Accountancy certification. With the Canadian Chartered Accountancy certification and the US CPA are not bachelor’s degree equivalencies, the Indian Chartered Accountancy certification requires the same steps as a bachelor’s degree in accounting to qualify to take the test to become certified. This makes the Indian Chartered Accountancy the functional equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in accounting. When it comes to rare degrees or degrees without an intuitive equivalency, holding CIS’s hand and walking them through the steps of education to determine its functional equivalency is required to avoid an RFE in the first place or to answer the one that has arrived. This requires a detailed credential evaluation from a credential evaluation agency with specialized understanding of foreign and international education, as well as knowledge of where one can earn rare degree specializations in the United States.

  1. The Right Evaluation for the Wrong Visa

Regulations surrounding educational equivalencies vary greatly from visa to visa. Some credential evaluation agencies offer cookie-cutter evaluations based on large databases without looking at each situation on a case-by-case basis. Everyone’s path through education is unique – from course content to work experience – AND every visa has different equivalency frameworks. For example, for the H-1B visa, CIS permits candidates to combine education from multiple sources, as well as years of progressive work experience to reach a US bachelor’s degree equivalency. This is not the case for the EB2 visa where the bachelor’s degree must be a single source. Therefore, it is common for candidates to end up with the right equivalency for the wrong visa. Before you hire a credential evaluator, make sure they specifically ask about your visa or your employee or client’s visa. Many credible evaluation agencies will write an accurate evaluation that does not meet CIS requirements for your visa or your employee or client’s visa. This does NOT mean your or your employee or client’s education and work experience cannot meet H-1B requirements. The evaluation must lend itself to the visa requirements, and client’s job offer. It must take into account the field of employ, the degree and specialization required, and the steps CIS allows for you, or your employee or client to get there.

When you receive an RFE, sit down with your team, read it over, and understand exactly what it is asking of you. The roadmap to your success, however, is NOT necessarily in the wording of the RFE. Your success lies within knowing CIS educational requirements for the visa, and in understanding CIS approval trends. The right credential evaluation for the right visa is your key to answering an education 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.

5 Common H-1B RFEs and Their Solutions Read More »

Scroll to Top