Long-Term Reasons to Pursue H1B Visa Status
Visa Approvals
Addressing the Education RFE
Don’t panic if you get an RFE. This means your petition is under consideration and you get another chance to build a solid case for approving your petition. Take this opportunity by reading over your RFE carefully with your employer and understand exactly what is being asked of you.
The two main education situations require you to submit a detailed credential evaluation with your transcripts. The first stems from a recent change in USCIS standards regarding your degree. In the recent past – as well as in the present when it comes to hiring domestic employees – you can meet the requirements for a specialty occupation by having a degree in a field related to your field of employ. Now, the USCIS requires your degree exactly match your field of employ.
So what if you have the right degree but the wrong major? No problem! A detailed credential evaluation can do two things to remedy the situation. First, we can take a close look at the courses you took to show that you did, in fact, specialize in your field of employ even if your major doesn’t clearly reflect it. Secondly, if you have work experience in your field of employ, we can convert years of work experience into college credit hours.
The second common education-related misunderstanding that can trigger an RFE to come your way is your degree from a different country than the United States. If you earned your degree outside of the United States, this means your bachelor’s degree came from a country with a different academic system. Many of these systems have three-year bachelor’s degrees instead of the US four-year degree. At the USCIS, they look at your three-year degree and all they see is the missing fourth year. You literally need to spell out the value of your education in terms of US equivalence. Again, you can do this with a detailed credential evaluation that can take a close look at the academic content of your degree. In most cases, the only difference between a three-year degree and a US four-year degree is density. You get more classroom contact hours each year with a three-year degree and by converting classroom contact hours into US college credit hours you end up with the academic equivalence of a US four-year degree. No problem. You’ve just got to order a detailed evaluation from an agency with the authority to make these conversions.
For a free consultation on your academic RFE, visit us online at cciFree.com or call any time at 1.800.771.4723. We’re always here to help you.
Make the Most of Your RFE Response
First off, don’t panic! This means your visa hasn’t been denied and you get a second chance to build a strong case for its approval.
In that past few years, the USCIS has been issuing more and more RFE’s in response to H-1B petitions. These are “requests for evidence” because they feel they don’t have enough information to approve your petition based on what you submitted.
If you earned your bachelor’s or master’s degree from outside of the United States and you didn’t submit a detailed credential evaluation with your petition, you’re probably staring down an RFE. If your degree is in a related field to your specialty occupation but not in the exact field of your job and you didn’t submit a detailed credential evaluation with your petition, you’re probably staring down an RFE. Maybe you submitted an evaluation but the agency that evaluated your education was questionable. These are all situations that trigger and RFE response.
The first thing you need to do when you receive and RFE is to go over it with your employer and figure out exactly what they are asking you to supply. Then, supply it. Don’t hesitate, submit a detailed credential evaluation and prove that you are qualified for your job and for your H-1B visa.
If you’ve received an RFE on your H-1B petition for an education situation, visit us online at cciFree.com or call anytime at 1.800.771.4723 for a free consultation.]]>
Some H-4 Spouses Now Eligible to Work in the US
th, 2015, certain H-4 spouses of H-1B visa holders in the United States will be eligible to seek employment in the United States during their stay. These are the spouses of H-1B visa workers who seek lawful permanent resident status based on employment.
A big reason H-1B workers decide to pull out of their jobs in the US and go to work in other countries with more progressive immigration policies is because their spouses can’t work. This puts both economic and emotional strain on H-1B families. Spouses often come to feel isolated and lonely, and the family is forced to survive on a single income. This is a leading cause for H-1B workers to quit, which puts hardship on the companies that hired them. With this new policy, these burdens will be taken off of H-1B families and the companies that sponsor their visas.
Allowing H-4 spouses to work while their family seeks lawful permanent will also help the family integrate into life in the United States.
Don't Panic, April First is Tomorrow
But before you send in your petition, you want to ask yourself, “Have I successfully proven that I’m qualified for my H-1B job?”
To qualify for your H-1B job, and thus your visa, you need to clearly show that you possess the body of specialized knowledge required to perform your job. That means you have a US bachelor’s degree or higher, or its equivalent, in your field of employ. If your degree is from a different country, or if your degree is generalized or in a field different from your job, your job of proving your qualification to the USCIS is not done.
You will need a to submit a detailed evaluation of your credentials along with your transcript from a credential evaluation agency authorized to make the necessary conversions to bridge the gaps in your degree. You only get one shot at this.
You have one day. We can help you.
At CCI, we have international education experts with the authority to convert classroom contact hours and work experience into college credit hours to fill in any gaps in your resume and clearly show that you are qualified by US educational standards to work your H-1B job. They are on call around the clock and we have rush delivery options that will get your evaluation into your hands in 12 hours. All we need are emailed copies of your education documents, work documentation, and your resume.
Now it not the time to hesitate. Call us anytime at 1.800.771.4723 or visit us online at http://www.ccifree.com/?CodeBLG/.
3 H-1B Details to Remember This Week
Several details often get overlooked. The best outcome in these cases is the petitioner will receive an RFE response requesting more information. Worst case scenario, your petition gets rejected outright. Even with an RFE, the USCIS views that particular response as a much-needed red flag to get through the massive pile of petitions they have to go through each year. There are only 65,000 visas available annually and last year the USCIS found themselves rummaging through nearly 200,000 petitions.
They’re looking for an excuse to reject yours. Don’t give them one.
Three details to remember before you pop your petition in the mail:
- Use a blue pen. You’re going to be submitting original documents and copies of original documents. You’ll have signatures – both of your own and others – from the past and present, sometimes even on the same document. The USCIS worker needs to be able to clearly tell the difference between original signatures and recent signatures. Use a blue pen for new signatures. Make everyone’s life easier.
- Double and triple-check for consistency. Is your name spelled the same on every document? If you have a nickname or your name is hard to spell, it’s particularly important that you double and triple-check for this. It’s alarming how many RFE’s are issued simply to check what the petitioner’s name actually is. On the same note, you want to make sure that all of the other information on all of the forms you’ve submitted is consistent.
- If you need a credential evaluation, get one! If your degree is from a country that is not the United States, you need a credential evaluation and you need to submit it along with the rest of your petition. The only way to show the person evaluating your petition the value of your foreign degree is with a detailed evaluation from an authorized credential evaluation agency. This is because academic standards and structures vary from country to country, much like currency. The value is not always clear, but someone who understands exchange rates can get you what you need.
At CCI we have international education experts on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. We have rush delivery services available to get your credential evaluation into your hands when you need it. Call or text us anytime at 1.800.771.4723, send us an email, or visit us online at http://www.ccifree.com/?CodeBLG/ for a consultation. We can figure out what you need to complete your H-1B petition and get it to you in time to file on April First.
How Do I Know if I Need a Credential Evaluation?
You want to get your petition submitted on April First because the closer your are to the top of the stack the better. You can bet they get pickier towards the bottom as the number of available visas dwindles. You also want to make sure you get all of the evidence, documents, forms, and other information you need to clearly prove your case submitted the FIRST time, in order, and easy to read.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to submit your petition without an evaluation of your academic credentials when you need one. What this means is you are submitting transcripts without explaining what they mean in terms of US academic standards or H-1B requirements.
Do you need a credential evaluation? Here are three questions to ask yourself:
- Is my degree from a country other than the United States?
- Is my degree in a field different from my job?
- Is my degree generalized?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, the answer is YES, you need a credential evaluation.
Remember, these are people who will be evaluating your petition and deciding whether or not to grant you a visa. You want to make their decision easy by making their job easy. You can do this by clearly spelling out the value of what is in front of them. That means clearly showing the US academic equivalent of your foreign degree, proving that you do have the specialized knowledge of your field of employ even if you majored in something else, and that you do have specialized education and training in your field even if your degree is generalized on paper. Give them what they need when they need it and you will be pleased with the outcome.
Call us at 1.800.771.4723 anytime or visit us at http://www.ccifree.com/?CodeBLG/ and we will take a look at your transcripts, resume, and work experience for free and discern what needs to overcome any obstacles standing in the way between you and your visa.
How Do I Know if I Need a Credential Evaluation? Read More »
Get Your H1B Petition Perfect the First Time
You need to clearly show the USCIS agent reviewing your petition that you have the specialized skills necessary to qualify for your H1B job.
How can you do this?
An authorized credential evaluation agency can help you bridge the gap between your job and your degree in two ways:
1) Close examination of your coursework.
At CCI, we have international education experts on hand all the time to take a detailed look at the content of your education. That means looking at the classes you took and what you learned from them. Even if your degree doesn’t reflect it on its face, a close examination of your coursework will clearly show that you do in fact have specialized knowledge pertaining to your field of employ.
2) Converting Work Experience into College Credit
An authorized credential evaluation agency has the ability to convert your work experience in the field of your H1B job into college credit hours. Evaluation of work experience and the skills and understanding gained by it can clearly show the USCIS that you are qualified for your H1B job.
You may be asking yourself, “Can’t I just do this on my own?”
No. You can’t.
We’re talking US immigration here. Unless you are an authorized credential evaluation agency or an international education expert, you cannot evaluate your own credentials in a meaningful and credible way.
At CCI, we will go over your case with you and identify exactly what you need to do to bridge any gaps in your petition that may stand in the way of you getting your visa approved. Call us anytime at 1.800.771.4723 or visit us online at http://www.ccifree.com/?CodeBLG/.