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how to answer an H1B rfe

What to do When You Get an H1B RFE About Everything

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

This year, we’re seeing the Nightmare RFE with specialty occupation, wage level, and education issues included. When CIS finds one problem with a petition, they usually find more, which can cause a cascading effect that leads to a virtually unanswerable RFE like the ones we’re seeing this year.

If you, or your employee or client receives this kind of RFE, the first step is to go back to the basics. Since every H1B requirement is in question, all you have to do is go back to the fundamental guidelines of this visa. First, the H1B job must be a specialty occupation, meaning it requires a minimum of a US bachelor’s degree or higher for entrance into the position. Second, the H1B beneficiary must hold that degree in the field of the H1B job, or have the equivalent of the necessary degree. Third, the employee must be paid the prevailing wages and benefits for that position, in the industry for companies of that size in that geographic location. The employer must be economically viable, and there must be an employer-employee relationship in which the employer controls the work the employee does.

To prove the job meets H1B standards, you will need to show that it meets H1B educational requirements for specialty occupations. Provide the ad for the job and ads for the same position in similar companies in the industry. Provide documentation of past hiring practices that shows employees holding this position historically require this minimum advanced degree requirement. Detail the duties and responsibilities of the job and highlight how they necessitate the employee having earned the advanced degree to learn the specialized skills and knowledge the job requires.

When it comes to education issues, you or your client or employee must have a US bachelor’s degree in the exact field of the H1B job, or its equivalent. That’s where things can get tricky. If the beneficiary has ANYTHING BESIDES a US bachelor’s degree in the exact field of the H1B job you will need to include a credential evaluation that takes both the job and the visa into consideration that fills in the gaps between the credentials the beneficiary has, and the credentials the beneficiary needs to get the RFE overturned.

For proving that working conditions and compensation meet H1B requirements, include a copy of the employee contract, including salary or wage documentation. You will need to explain the factors that went into deciding the wage level for the job, and evidence that shows this wage level is an industry standard for that position in that geographic location for companies of that size. If the wage level varies, you need to explain exactly why.

These complex RFEs also require an expert opinion letter that can cover occupational issues – both regarding specialization and working conditions. Both issues can be covered in the same letter to explain and verify the evidence you provide in your RFE response.

At TheDegreePeople.com we understand that when CIS finds one problem with a case, that’s rarely the end of it. We work with difficult cases every year regarding education and occupation. For a free consultation visit ccifree.com. We will get back to you in 48 hours or less.

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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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Your Most Common H1B RFE for 2017

Credential Evaluation, Visa Approvals


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.]]>

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