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

Visa Approvals

ALERT: Attorneys and Employers Be on the Lookout for False Translations

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Education evaluation is a complex, specialized process. Evaluators typically hold graduate level degrees in international education, or have a significant amount of experience with international credentials by working in a university admissions environment or the like. Credential evaluators must have a firm grasp of not only education system structures internationally, but must also be knowledgeable about USCIS statutes, precedents, and decisions regarding educational qualifications. The evaluation process requires skill, judgment, and integrity to ensure an accurate and appropriate evaluation. In large firms, to ensure accuracy, junior evaluators are supervised by senior staff members.

Credential evaluation is too complex to be an a la carte service, but more and more translation agencies are offering it as such. There are shortcuts to writing a credential evaluation based on databases listing educational equivalencies, which can be purchased by anyone. Some translation firms are using these databases to write evaluations in a cookie-cutter fashion. However, the equivalencies in these databases only represent the most conservative evaluations for any given credential. These equivalencies are controversial and will not be applicable in every scenario. Furthermore, when this is the practice, an “evaluation” is misleading because the expertise involved in the evaluation did not actually come from the evaluator. The expertise came from whoever wrote the database, not from the firm that wrote the evaluation.

Without an extensive background in international education, there is no clear way to tell which situations are unique and which equivalencies are applicable to which degree. When credential evaluators write an evaluation, detailed analysis, expertise, and research is always needed to ensure accuracy and to truly address each client’s unique situation.

Beyond simply not having the expertise required to write accurate evaluations, much of the value of a client’s educational documents gets lost in translation – both of the words and of the academic content. Even without meaning to, translators often interject an evaluation through mistranslation. For example, a common mistranslation is Baccalaureate, which often gets translated into a Bachelor’s degree even though they are NOT the same. Just as words get mistranslated, degrees are also commonly mistranslated when a translator interjects a judgment on equivalency. A degree in one country does not directly translate to a degree in another country. Knowledge of the academic content, years required, and admissions decisions must all be taken into consideration when discerning the educational value of any given degree. This includes which colleges accept which foreign degrees to meet the requirements of their programs.

International education expert Dr. John Kersey explains, “In international education, the same term may mean entirely different things. Most bachelor’s degrees in Pakistan, for example, are only two years long and are comparable to a United States associate’s degree, not a bachelor’s degree which requires three to four years of study. The European Master degree typically represents four years of postsecondary education, and is thus comparable to a United States bachelor’s degree, rather than a master’s degree, which requires five to six years of postsecondary study.”

The words diploma and postgraduate diploma have no clear meanings. A postgraduate diploma does not mean that it is a graduate level education. Regardless, a postgraduate degree often gets mistranslated into a master’s degree. This, however, is not the result of a direct translation; this is the result of a value judgment from someone who does not understand the nuances of international education. While some postgraduate degrees are, in fact, equivalent to a master’s degree, none should be TRANSLATED as a master’s degree.

In a similar fashion, the Russian specialist degree often gets mistranslated. The kandidat naouk, which is generally the equivalent of a US doctorate cannot be TRANSLATED as a doctorate degree or a PhD. In the US, we know that a CPA is not a degree title. The title Certified Public Accountant is a professional title. The same is true for the CA (Chartered Accountants) in Canada. However, in India, the CA is actually equivalent to a degree in India, but this cannot be translated. It must be carefully evaluated based on academic content and legal precedents. Words must be translated, and credentials must be evaluated. These are two completely different processes and to combine them is both dangerous and misleading.

The solution to this is for the translator to always translate the literal words without making an educational value assessment. Leave that to a credential evaluation agency. To get an accurate evaluation that will not mislead employers and not leave visa candidates out of luck when the USCIS questions the credibility of their credential evaluator, keep this a two-step process. You would never hire a credential evaluation agency to translate documents. Do not hire a translation agency to discern academic equivalencies.

Bear in mind that not all credential evaluation agencies have evaluators qualified to assess equivalency with accuracy either. In fact, we are seeing more and more Requests For Evidence inquiring into the credibility of credential evaluation agencies. Not all credential evaluators have the expertise to write accurate evaluations, and not all agencies have the authority to make the necessary conversions to prove equivalence. When you and your client or employee are looking for the right agency to hire to write a credential evaluation, here are three things to keep in mind:

  1. When you talk with an agency, ask about the credentials, experience, and expertise of the person who will be writing the evaluation. If the agency will not discuss this with you, look elsewhere. A credential evaluator should at minimum hold a degree in higher education that includes significant study in international education systems, or have extensive experience working in university admissions. Working in admissions gives evaluators first hand knowledge and experience with how foreign degrees are valued in the eyes of the universities and graduate programs the evaluation will be written for.
  1. Higher cost does not directly translate into higher quality when it comes to credential evaluations. In fact, it’s the credible evaluation agencies that typically offer inexpensive services. If an agency requests a large payment up front before they are willing to discuss your case, look elsewhere. If they charge exorbitant prices, look elsewhere.
  1. Many evaluation agencies are members of professional bodies and trade associations. Evaluation agencies are not required to be members in organizations such as these, although many are. While membership may make an agency look more official and credible, do not base your decision on these associations. Membership does not make for a meaningful assessment of an agency’s product.
  1. Beware evaluation mills. Some evaluators will just rubber-stamp whatever equivalency is asked for. This is misleading for employers and will certainly land your client or employee an RFE come visa petition time. How can you avoid this? When you talk to a potential evaluation agency, ask about their evaluation policies. This will show you whether or not they are prepared to tailor their services to your client or employee’s individual situation.

Look for a credential evaluation agency that is forthcoming with the qualifications of their evaluators, and that will address your client or your employee’s unique situation.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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. Mention that you saw this in the ILW article and get 72 hour rush service at no charge.

ALERT: Attorneys and Employers Be on the Lookout for False Translations Read More »

5 Helpful Tips for Finding a Reliable Credential Evaluator

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Not all credential evaluation agencies are authorized to make the necessary assessments and conversions, and not all agencies hire actual experts to write these evaluations. If the agency your client or employee hires to write the evaluation is not reliable, the USCIS cannot accept the evaluation as evidence to support H1b visa eligibility. Don’t waste time and money on an unreliable agency.

Learn how to pick out a good one with these five helpful tips:

  1. Easy to reach

If an agency fails to answer or return your calls, texts, and emails, look elsewhere. Reliable agencies are not only reliable in their expertise, but also in you being able to work with them. If you can’t even rely on an agency to answer your call, you can’t rely on them to write a credible evaluation. Look elsewhere. A reliable agency will be easy to reach in any medium you choose – call, text, or email – any time of the day or night. This is because a good agency understands the time crunch you are under, and that the line of work you are both in is inconvenient in its nature. You work odd hours for your clients and employees in the H1b petition process, and if an agency is reliable, they will too.

  1. Affordable

This is NOT one of those instances where the more you pay the more you get. A higher price is NOT indicative of a higher quality credential evaluation. Reliable credential evaluation agencies are low-cost because they understand the realities of their clients, and they don’t have to make the most financial mileage out of each customer. Look for an affordable, low-cost agency to work with.

  1. Comfortable to talk to

Go with your gut. If you don’t feel comfortable in your communication with them, look elsewhere. When you feel comfortable on the phone with an agency, that means they are confident and knowledgeable in what they do. They answer your questions in ways that make you feel safe and satisfied. They are able to meet you where you are and work together with you. Look for an agency that you can have a good, helpful conversation with.

  1. Available

A reliable agency will make it easy for you to work with them. That means they will have a variety of rush delivery options depending on your needs. They will always be there to answer your questions and address your concerns. If an agency does not offer options or guarantee their follow-through, look elsewhere. A reliable agency will be able to meet the needs of you and your client or employee because they understand the extent of what needs to be done to successfully file an H1b petition.

  1. Great references and testimonials from past clients

You should be able to easily find references and testimonials from people who have worked with the evaluation agency in the past. Ask if they can provide you with contact information from past clients, and if they cannot do so swiftly, look elsewhere. NEVER order an evaluation from ANY agency without first reading testimonials from past clients. No matter how good an agency looks on their website, on paper, or from what they have to say about themselves, the only way you can be sure they will be reliable for your and your client or employee is by checking into whether or not they have been consistently reliable in practice.

Reliable credential evaluation agencies have international education professors and experts on call to write detailed evaluations any time. Find an agency with the authority to convert years of work experience and college classroom contact hours into college credit. These experts and professors are authorized to take a close and thorough look at your client or employee’s education and work experience to get an accurate measure of the value of their specialized skills and knowledge.

Sheila Danzig is the director of Career Consulting International at www.TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credential evaluation agency. They specialize in difficult cases and RFEs, Denials, NOIDs, 3-year degrees, etc. and offer a free review of all H1B, E2, and I140 education at http://www.ccifree.com/.]]>

5 Helpful Tips for Finding a Reliable Credential Evaluator Read More »

3 Reasons Why You Didn’t Steal Anyone’s Job

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


Here are three things you can say – either aloud or to yourself – when you are accused of job stealing:

1) “I didn’t steal your job, I made ten new ones.”

The fact that you’re working an H-1B job means your making the prevailing wages of a specialty occupation. That means you are a person with a reasonable – and in many cases, ample – income who lives in the United States. That means you’re putting a large portion of your income back into the US economy. Every H-1B worker needs to rent a house or apartment, pay for food and clothing, a cellphone, a haircut, and so forth. Not to mention, if you’ve brought family members over on H-4 visas, they will also be spending your income in the United States. This means more money circulating in the economy and the need for more jobs created to meet the needs of more people who are making more money to spend. This is the very definition of economic growth.

2) “I didn’t steal your job, and neither did anyone else.”

The myth that this country is overrun by immigrants snatching up jobs from the hands of American citizens is simply that: a myth. If you applied for an H-1B visa, you are painfully aware that there aren’t that many work visas to go around. In reality, even if the United States were to double the number of work visas issued every year, the number would be less than one million. That’s less than 0.7% of the US workforce. That means currently, the percentage of non-US citizens in the workforce “stealing jobs” is less than half of one percent of the entire US workforce. This number hardly constitutes a flood of workers. No one is stealing anyone’s job.

3) “Immigration doesn’t actually make a difference on wages and employment.”

A notable example is the Mariel boat lift in 1980 where 125,000 immigrants from Cuba came to the United States all at once. About 45,000 of these immigrants were of working age, and they all landed in Miami increasing the city’s labor supply by 7% overnight. Guess what happened? Absolutely nothing. This sudden and massive influx of workers made no measurable impact the wage rate or the employment rate in Miami. Forty-five thousand new workers landed in a single city at once and not one of them stole anyone’s job.

The United States has a long and monumental history of immigration. This country was literally built on immigration and the health of its economy depends on a healthy influx of immigrants to fill existing jobs and create new ones. In fact, the reality that immigration is good for the economy is a long-standing, proven economic principle. So what’s the problem? Why are you being accused of job stealing?

The fallacy comes from thinking of people as commodities. For example, if the market is flooded with tomatoes, the price of tomatoes will drop. It’s easy to think of people in the same way – if the job market is flooded with more workers, wages and job availability will drop. There are two big differences here:

1) The job market is NOT flooded with immigrants.

2) People are NOT tomatoes. Tomatoes don’t spend money on food, clothing, shelter, entertainment and hobbies, and so forth.

People do, and people making money do even more so. This creates more jobs and greater wealth for everyone.

Sheila Danzig is the director of Career Consulting International at www.TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credential evaluation agency. They specialize in difficult cases and RFEs, Denials, NOIDs, 3-year degrees, etc. and offer a free review of all H1B, E2, and I140 education at http://www.ccifree.com/.]]>

3 Reasons Why You Didn’t Steal Anyone’s Job Read More »

3 Reasons Why Your Client or Employee Got an RFE and How to Deal With It

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

One of the big reasons we are seeing RFEs is because petitioners aren’t providing enough evidence for USCIS evaluators to clearly judge the value of their degrees and how it pertains to their H1B jobs. Here are three main reasons education RFEs are triggered and how you can avoid them in the first place, or deal with them as they arise.

  • Foreign Degree

For the same reason you wouldn’t just pay for a pair of shoes in the United States with foreign currency, you shouldn’t just petition the USCIS for a visa with your foreign degree. Why not? Because its value is unclear. Just like it’s the responsibility of the individual to exchange your money at the border, it’s also their responsibility to translate the value of your education across educational system structures. Your client can do this by sending in an evaluation of their foreign credentials along with the initial H1B petition, or if they receive and RFE, order an evaluation. In these evaluations, international education experts will examine the academic content of your client’s educational experience and write an evaluation of its US value equivalence.

  • Right Degree, Wrong Major

This kind of RFE is surprising many petitioners and their employers because it’s a new standard. Until recently – like most employers – the USCIS would approve applicants whose advanced degree was in a field related to their field of employ. In the past five or six years, these standards have tightened and now the USCIS requires petitioners’ degrees to exactly match their field of employ. If your client has the right degree in the wrong field, you still have options. A detailed credential evaluation can show that your client’s degree in, for example, computer sciences, is the functional equivalent of an engineering degree with a detailed examination of your course content, work experience, and whether or not your client’s degree in engineering would qualify him for admission into a computer sciences master’s degree program.

  • Questionable Evaluator

Say you foresaw the first two hang-ups and ordered a credential evaluation but were still met with an RFE. Sometimes, RFEs are issued because your client’s credentials were evaluated by an evaluation agency with questionable credentials of their own. It’s of the utmost importance the value of your client’s education be evaluated by international education experts with the knowledge and authority to accurately translate the meaning of the degree. Help your client choose carefully when selecting a credential evaluation agency. The agency should be affordable, easy to reach, and make you and your client feel comfortable when corresponding with them. They should be able to provide you references with grace and ease, have great reviews, and clearly be able to show their experience working with the kind of case you are working with.

The best way to address an RFE is to meet all of the evidence requires in the first place. But if your client does get an RFE, don’t panic! While this is an undesirable and beyond inconvenient situation, it is not an NOID, it is not a Denial, and it is nothing out of the ordinary. Take the time to read over your RFE carefully with your client, fully understand what is being asked of them, and help them submit all of the evidence requested in order on time.

Sheila Danzig is the director of Career Consulting International at www.TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credential evaluation agency. They specialize in difficult cases and RFEs, Denials, NOIDs, 3-year degrees, etc. and offer a free review of all H1B, E2, and I140 education at http://www.ccifree.com/.

3 Reasons Why Your Client or Employee Got an RFE and How to Deal With It Read More »

3 More Reasons to Get Your H1B Visa

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Some obvious benefits of being an H1B visa holder include being able to change jobs without loosing one’s visa status, bringing their spouses and dependents to live with them in the US, and holding employers to stringent labor standards to guard against exploitation. Besides these benefits, here are three deeper advantages to this kind of visa.

  1. Part-time employment option.

You can get an H1B visa for a part time job. So long as your job still requires a bachelor’s degree or higher, you can still get H1B visa status and enjoy the freedoms and protections that come along with it. This is a great option for students coming to the United States for education but cannot afford it without also working part time.

  1. Dual Intent

Unlike travel visas and other short-term work visas, when you apply for an H1B visa, you don’t have to prove that you intend to return to your country of origin. Many visas require you to prove that you don’t intend to stay in the United States once your visa expires. This means you have to have a certain amount of money in your bank account, strong ties and responsibilities in your country of origin, and other indicators that would prove you don’t tend to stay. With an H1B visa, you don’t have to prove any of this to get approved. In fact, many people intend to use their H1B visa as a gateway to US naturalization and citizenship, and that’s just fine.

  1. Gateway to a Green Card

A common trajectory for H1B visa holders is obtaining their Green Card. The initial H1B visa is for three years, then visa holders can apply for another three-year extension. After that, employers will often decide to sponsor visa holders for a Green Card so they can continue to live in the United States and work for their company. Since H1B visas allow for families to come and live with the H1B visa holders, this is a great way to introduce and integrate families into a permanent life in the United States.

An H1B visa is the perfect visa for long-term intentions. Whether you’ve decided you want to ultimately get Green Card sponsorship, or if you’re not sure where your career path will ultimately take you, the H1B visa offers a unique freedom and flexibility for you and your family.

Sheila Danzig is the director of Career Consulting International at www.TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credential evaluation agency. They specialize in difficult cases and RFEs, Denials, NOIDs, 3-year degrees, etc. and offer a free review of all H1B, E2, and I140 education at http://www.ccifree.com/.

3 More Reasons to Get Your H1B Visa Read More »

Challenges and Benefits of Hiring H1B Employees to Your Start-Up Staff

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

Hiring on H1b employees is a great option for established companies as well as start-ups. This particular work Visa allows workers to stay with the company and work for up to six years, with opportunities to pursue pathways towards Green Cards and citizenship. Unlike an F1 work visa, H1b employees will have the time to integrate into the companies and organizations they work for, building a long-term, cohesive workplace.

If you or your client is looking into hiring H1b employees to work for your start-up company, the petition process may be more complex than if your company was established. This is because start-up companies tend to run on tight budgets. You must be able to prove that you can pay your H1b employee prevailing wages for the position, as well as benefits. Your company must be able to do this without cutting into the salaries of other non-H1b employees, and without loosing overall economic viability. Accurately budgeting for your H1b employee is essential, and you must have the evidence to prove it.

Many companies resort to cutting corners when just starting up. If you hire an H1b employee, you cannot do this. You also must ensure that your H1b employee’s working conditions are up to standard. To do this, you must file a Labor Condition Application and it must be approved by April 1st. Detailed evidence that your company upholds US labor standards is necessary for this application to be approved so you and your employee or client can move forward on the petition process. This will benefit your company in the long run by ensuring that your business is built on a basis of excellence.

If you hire a foreign worker, you will most certainly be held to higher standards and have those standards enforced more strictly than if you simply hire US-born workers. However, this will ensure that your company get off to a legitimate start and evolve from a strong, solid foundation. There are simply not enough highly skilled workers who are US citizens to meet the growing job demands of the IT industry, and plenty of brilliant minds from other countries who want to work for you. At the same time, with H1b employees on staff, your company will have strong roots in an international perspective and a global focus. As the business world – particularly the IT world – becomes evermore globally oriented, your company will already be structured for this modern, global industry while established companies and other start-ups that don’t hire H1b workers will have to adapt.

It is well worth the extra attention to the details of the petition process to start up your new business with H1b employees on your staff.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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. Mention that you saw this in the ILW article and get 72 hour rush service at no charge.

Challenges and Benefits of Hiring H1B Employees to Your Start-Up Staff Read More »

Who is to Blame for Your RFE?

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

But whose fault is it REALLY and why does it matter whose fault it is anyway?

True, sometimes it is the attorney or evaluators fault, but sometimes it is CIS’s fault.

Sometimes it is the fault of the evaluation but not the evaluator.

Sometimes it is CIS’s fault.

Sometimes it’s the candidate’s fault.

Sometimes it is no one’s fault at all.

It matters because there is absolutely no reason to get a new attorney or a new evaluator at this stage of the process if the RFE was not their fault.

The first step to successfully responding to an RFE is to understand what is being asked for, and of whom is it being asked, and which party can provide the necessary evidence. Knowing who is at fault for the RFE is a big part of understanding how to move forward.

When is it the attorney’s fault?

Very rarely, an attorney will file a PERM incorrectly. Generally, however, the attorney error occurs when the candidate’s education is not reviewed by an education specialist before the PERM is filed. In this case, the candidate’s account of the education is incorrect or does not meet the CIS definition of a degree for that particular Visa. Unless this is the case, don’t file your attorney over an RFE.

When is it the evaluator’s fault and how can it be the fault of the evaluation but NOT the person who wrote it?

There are situations when the RFE is clearly the evaluator’s fault because the evaluation was incorrect. For example, when a non-accredited PGD is listed as accredited, CIS jumps on that inaccuracy to issue an RFE.

However, every evaluation is different, and evaluations for different Visas must be written very differently. When an evaluator writes an evaluation for any particular visa, he or she must know both the Visa regulations AND current CIS trends. The evaluator may have done the job properly but the equivalence does not work for the particular Visa. For example, someone with a four-year degree in electrical engineering can have an evaluation written perfectly showing equivalence for a US bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and then receive an RFE because his or her job is in the field of computer software analysis. This sort of mismatch triggered an onslaught of RFE’s this year. The evaluator did a good job, but the evaluation was not correct for the purposes of the Visa. In this case, you may have likely found the write evaluator, he or she just wrote the wrong evaluation correctly. To avoid this, make sure you order your evaluation from an agency that knows education regulations for each Visa. If you advise an evaluation agency that you need an evaluation for an H1B visa and they don’t ask about the job offer, find a new agency. The degree must precisely fit the field of employ for this Visa and the evaluator needs to know this information so they can evaluate an equivalency to the proper degree. If you are not asked about the job offer, the agency simply does not understand what is required of H1B Visa candidates.

If you have already paid an evaluator and a mistake was made, I suggest you go back to that evaluator to try to address your RFE. However, if the evaluation agency did not make sure that the evaluation was written for the particular Visa it was ordered for, that may just be how they operate. They may just be writing standard evaluations and not be authorized to make the conversions necessary to prove equivalence between fields or across educational system structures. You cannot expect an agency to do something they don’t claim to do. The evaluation agency you want is one that will look at the education, as well as the visa requirements and current CIS trends.

When is it CIS’s fault?

Government bureaucracies make mistakes and some RFE’s are simply factually incorrect. Everything in a petition could be done correctly and you can still receive an RFE. Often when CIS is at fault, the RFE will state that an accredited university is not accredited, or that a qualified evaluator is not qualified. While these RFE’s are frustrating, they are also easy fixes. With the help of your evaluator, you can easily provide these facts and receive an approval.

When is it the Candidate’s Fault?

Candidates make mistakes. They have been known to insist that their high school documents are college level. They have also been known to provide poorly translated documents, or even fraudulently translated documents. Often but not always, a good evaluator can pick up on these problems before starting in on the evaluation, but not all evaluation agencies will review a candidate’s case before accepting payment and writing it. To be sure that no problems arise further down the road that can trigger an RFE, we always review all of the documents before accepting a credential evaluation order. Before we have seen all of the education documents, a resume, and the RFE or Denial if one has been issued, we have no way to discuss any given candidate’s case. We want to discover any issues in the documents right away in order to eliminate the vast majority of client confusion and misinformation.

When is it no one’s fault?

Sometimes, it really is no one’s fault. CIS trends change. As we have seen especially in the past seven or so years, CIS trends can change very quickly. We can only, at best, know what they generally do and what they have done. CIS can be a wildcard, and for that reason we can never guarantee what they are going to do. When this happens, all you can do is carefully read the RFE, understand what is being asked of whom and who can provide the requested evidence, and do your best.

Can we draw a usable conclusion?

Yes. If you have a competent attorney, work with him or her to resolve the RFE. If you used an evaluation agency before receiving an RFE, go back to them. Next time, make sure you are working with an agency that reviews the education and Visa requirements before you order. If that is not their policy, find a new agency. If that is their policy, hear them out. As much as I would like your business, an RFE is really not a reason to jump ship if an evaluation agency’s overall work has been good. Few agencies have passed through the RFE gauntlet this year unscathed, and many of these RFE’s are not the fault of the agency. Or the fault of the attorney. If you receive an RFE, the best solution is to remain calm and deal with it as best you can.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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. Mention that you saw this in the ILW article and get 72 hour rush service at no charge.

Who is to Blame for Your RFE? Read More »

Case Study: EB2 RFE for Education Not Matching PERM Requirement – APPROVED

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


Many employees are hired because their bachelor’s or master’s degrees in a field related to their occupation is sufficient for their employers to recognize that they have the specialized skills and knowledge to be successful at their jobs. Even though the degree may not precisely fit the field of employ, the knowledge base is there. This is not the case for the USCIS.

Now, the USCIS has been issuing RFE’s to petitioners whose degree specialization doesn’t exactly match their field of employ. If a foreign degree is deemed to be equivalent to the necessary US degree, if the specialization does not match the field of employ, the USCIS will not recognize that the applicant’s education meets PERM requirements.

This is what happened to our client. He came to us with an education RFE for this very reason. He held a bachelor’s degree in engineering from abroad, which the USCIS agreed was the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in engineering. Unfortunately, to meet the USCIS educational standards for his job, the USCIS required a bachelor’s degree in computer science, not engineering. Although the fields are related to the point of much academic overlap, a bachelor’s degree in engineering was not good enough.

We were able to provide the evidence requested in his RFE and his EB2 visa was approved. We did this by supplying extensive research and evidence to show how his bachelor’s degree in engineering degree was functionally equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences. Had his degree been a three-year degree, our evaluation would have consisted of a close examination of the course content of his degree, as well as converting years of work experience in the computer sciences field into Carnegie Unit credit hours.

However, since his engineering degree was a four-year degree already, what we needed to do was clearly spell out that our client’s educational experience – both inside and outside of the classroom – had more than equipped him with the specialized skills and knowledge necessary for a successful career in the computer sciences field. Through our examination, we were able to show that his engineering degree was the functional equivalent of a computer sciences degree by giving a host of examples of how his engineering degree would be accepted for admission to a master’s degree program in computer sciences. This clearly proved that the skills and knowledge he gained in his educational experience made him eligible to be successful in a master’s program in his field of employ. The USCIS accepted this and approved his visa.

Sheila Danzig is the director of Career Consulting International at www.TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credential evaluation agency. They specialize in difficult cases and RFEs, Denials, NOIDs, 3-year degrees, etc. and offer a free review of all H1B, E2, and I140 education at http://www.ccifree.com/.

 ]]>

Case Study: EB2 RFE for Education Not Matching PERM Requirement – APPROVED Read More »

Case Study: H1B Nightmare RFE – APPROVED

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals


With this client in 2013, she submitted her credentials for a nursing degree along with an evaluation from another agency. The USCIS responded with a Nightmare RFE and she and her attorney came to us. We were able to answer the RFE with an expert opinion letter and an evaluation by international education experts Professor Kersey, and me. We showed that the client did indeed have the required credentials by US education standards by demonstrating that her bachelor’s degree was the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree in Nursing. While we cleared up the education situation, our client’s attorney went on to answer the other queries submitted in the RFE.

Rates of RFE responses to H1B petitions have skyrocketed in recent years. Just less than a decade ago, only about 4% of all H1B petitions received an RFE. Now one in every four petitions submitted is met with an RFE. Alongside this increase, we are also seeing a sharp rise in difficult RFE’s like the Kitchen Sink. Attorneys are finding that more and more clients are faced with RFE’s that are near impossible to successfully answer, especially given the time allotted. At CCI, we specialize in difficult RFE’s. It has been a challenge to find creative solutions to seemingly impossible problems, but it’s a challenge we – and the attorneys we work with – rise to time and again.

Sheila Danzig is the director of Career Consulting International at www.TheDegreePeople.com, a foreign credential evaluation agency. They specialize in difficult cases and RFEs, Denials, NOIDs, 3-year degrees, etc. and offer a free review of all H1B, E2, and I140 education at http://www.ccifree.com/.

 ]]>

Case Study: H1B Nightmare RFE – APPROVED Read More »

Who is to Blame for Your H1B RFE?

Credential Evaluation, Immigration, Visa Approvals

But whose fault is it REALLY and why does it matter whose fault it is anyway?

True, sometimes it is the attorney or evaluators fault, but sometimes it is CIS’s fault.

Sometimes it is the fault of the evaluation but not the evaluator.

Sometimes it is CIS’s fault.

Sometimes it is the candidate’s fault.

Sometimes it is no one’s fault at all.

It matters because there is absolutely no reason to get a new attorney or a new evaluator at this stage of the process if the RFE was not their fault.

The first step to successfully responding to an RFE is to understand what is being asked for, and of whom is it being asked, and which party can provide the necessary evidence. Knowing who is at fault for the RFE is a big part of understanding how to move forward.

When is it the attorney’s fault?

Very rarely, an attorney will file an application incorrectly. Generally, however, the attorney error occurs when the candidate’s education is not reviewed by an education specialist before the application is filed. In this case, the candidate’s account of their education and experience is incorrect or does not meet the CIS requirements for the H1-B. Unless this is the case, don’t fire your attorney over an RFE.

When is it the evaluator’s fault, and how can it be the fault of the evaluation but NOT the person who wrote the evaluation?

There are situations when the RFE is clearly the evaluator’s fault because the evaluation was done incorrectly. For example, when a non-accredited PGD is listed as accredited, CIS jumps on that inaccuracy to issue an RFE.   This rarely happens, because most evaluators are highly trained in spotting unaccredited education.

However, every evaluation is different, and evaluations for different Visas must be written very differently. When an evaluator writes an evaluation for any particular visa, he or she needs to know both the Visa regulations AND current CIS trends. Not every evaluation agency is aware of the Visa regulations. The evaluator may have provided the evaluation ordered by the client, only to find that the equivalence does not work for the particular Visa. For example, if you have a four-year degree in electrical engineering, you can receive an evaluation written correctly showing an equivalency to a US bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, but then receive an RFE anyway because your job is in the field of computer software analysis. This sort of mismatch triggered an onslaught of RFEs this year. The evaluator did a good job, but the evaluation was not correct for the purposes of the Visa. In this case, you may have likely found the right evaluator, but he or she provided you with the wrong evaluation even though they acted in good faith. To avoid this, make sure you order your evaluation from an agency that knows education regulations for each Visa. If you advise an evaluation agency that you need an evaluation for an H1-B visa and they don’t ask about the job offer, find a new agency. The degree must precisely fit the field of employment for this Visa and the evaluator needs to know this information so they can evaluate an equivalency to the proper degree. If you are not asked about the job offer, the agency does not look at the Visa regulations and is not right for this job.

If you have already paid an evaluator and a mistake was made, I suggest you go back to that evaluator to try to address your RFE. However, if the evaluation agency did not make sure that the evaluation was written for the particular Visa it was ordered for, that may just be how they operate. There is nothing wrong with that unless they lead you to believe that they evaluate for immigration and meet Visa requirements as part of their service. They may just be writing standard evaluations and not be authorized to make the conversions from work experience to education, which is necessary to prove equivalency between fields or across educational system structures. You cannot expect an agency to do something they don’t claim to do. So the evaluation agency you want and need is one that will look at the education, as well as the visa requirements and current CIS trends.

When is it CIS’s fault?

Government bureaucracies make mistakes and some RFEs are simply factually incorrect. Everything in a petition could be done correctly and you can still receive an RFE. Often when CIS is at fault, the RFE will state that an accredited university is not accredited, or that a qualified evaluator is not qualified. While these RFEs are frustrating, they are usually also easy fixes. With the help of your evaluator, you can easily provide these facts and receive an approval.

When is it the Candidate’s Fault?

Yes, you make mistakes too. Candidates have been known to insist that their high school documents are college level or that unaccredited education is accredited. They have also been known to provide poorly translated documents, or even fraudulently translated documents. Generally, a good evaluator can pick up on these problems before starting in on the evaluation, but not all evaluation agencies will review a candidate’s case before accepting payment and writing it. To be sure that no problems arise further down the road that can trigger an RFE, we always review all of the documents before accepting a credential evaluation order. Before we have seen all of your education documents, a resume, and the RFE or Denial if one has been issued, we have no way to discuss your case. We want to discover any issues in the documents right away in order to eliminate the vast majority of the confusion and misinformation you may experience down the road.

When is it no one’s fault?

Sometimes, it really is no one’s fault. CIS trends change. As we have seen especially in the past seven or so years, CIS trends can change very quickly. We can only know what they generally do and what they have done in the past, which helps a great deal. CIS can be a wildcard, and no one can guarantee what they are going to do. When this happens, all you can do is carefully read the RFE with your team, understand what is being asked of whom and who can provide the requested evidence, and then do your best to beat it.

Can we draw a usable conclusion?

Yes. The entire team should review the RFE. Your attorney, your employer, your evaluator, and, of course, you should review the RFE. An evaluator with extensive experience with RFEs could be familiar with the RFE and know how they have been resolved. Work with him or her to resolve the RFE. If you used an evaluation agency before receiving an RFE, go back to them. Next time, make sure you are working with an evaluation agency that reviews the education and Visa requirements and gives you all of your options before you order. If that is not their policy, it might be best to try a new agency. Remember that few agencies have passed through the RFE gauntlet this year unscathed, and many of these RFEs are not the fault of the agency, or the fault of the attorney or employer or you. Do your homework before you file because avoiding RFEs is far superior to resolving them.

About the Author

Sheila Danzig

Sheila Danzig is the Executive Director of CCI 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 Mention that you saw this in the ILW article and get 72 hour rush service at no charge.

Who is to Blame for Your H1B RFE? Read More »

Scroll to Top