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In the past year, USCIS faced three convictions regarding illegally denying RFEs due to specialty occupation issues.  Despite these judicial decisions, USCIS continues to adjudicate H-1B petitions wrongly, which means H-1B beneficiaries still must take steps to prevent and fight these specialty occupation RFEs. Here is the issue: USCIS defines a “specialty occupation” as a […]

There are many pathways through education and they don’t all include the classroom.  However, USCIS needs a clear quantitative measure of qualitative learning – whether it’s on the job, from incomplete college, or from an unaccredited program. H-1B beneficiaries that have the specialized skills and knowledge necessary to perform the specialty occupation but do not […]

Wage Level Issue RFEs and Denials are common for H-1B jobs set at Level 1 Wages.  The reason for this comes in two steps: first, H-1B visas are reserved for foreign nationals working in specialty occupations.  These jobs require a bachelor’s degree or higher as a minimum requirement to perform.  At the same time, H-1B […]

When USCIS finds one issue in an H-1B petition, they tend to find more.  That’s because an RFE issue raises a red flag that triggers a close scrutiny of the rest of the petition.  The most common Double RFE we see is the Specialty Occupation + Wage Level Issue RFE. In this case, Wage Level […]

When USCIS finds one problem with an H-1B petition, they usually find more.  One RFE issue opens the door for close scrutiny of the entire case, and that is how we get situations like the Nightmare RFE. This RFE is virtually impossible to answer by its own guidelines in the given timeframe and includes absolutely […]

While specialty occupation, wage level, and employer-employee issue RFEs have been all the rage since 2017, the classic 3-Year Degree H-1B RFE has not gone away.  H-1B beneficiaries with 3-year bachelor’s degrees earned outside of the United States consistently receive RFEs and Denials for the missing fourth year of college.  Even though the Indian 3-year […]

The second quarter of FY2020 brought a slight increase in H-1B RFE rates to 35.8%, which is up 0.5% from FY2019’s second quarter.  By the same comparison, H-1B approval rate jumped up 4% to 87.1%.  The rate of approval following an RFE is 68.2%, which may seem low, but is a 10% increase from this […]

Is studying for a test cheating?  No!  Is editing a book necessary?  Always!  Same goes for an H-1B petition.  Reviewing the case for potential adjudication problems is an essential step to preventing an RFE.  RFEs are time consuming, costly, and can lead to a second or third round of RFEs, delaying the work start date […]

The mad rush to file work visas is here, and to help essential workers and first responders get on the job in haste we are offering free document evaluations for those with a foreign degree.   An estimated 6 million immigrants already work essential jobs and immigrants make up one-sixth of the overall US health […]