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This year, the H-1B cap-subject petition process will be a two-tiered approach.  Employers will first register H-1B employees electronically in March.  The lottery will then be conducted electronically, and applicants selected will then have 90 days to file their complete H-1B petition. The electronic registration will take place from March 1st to March 20th, 2020, […]

Employers fear that the new H-1B application process may cause H-1B employees to not be able to begin work on their start date of October 1, 2020, the first day of the fiscal year. This year, significant changes to the H-1B cap-subject application process will go into effect.  In years previous, the entire H-1B petition […]

Over the past few years of Specialty Occupation RFEs, at CCI TheDegreePeople.com we have found that the most successful means of preventing and answering these RFEs is with an expert opinion letter.  Understanding what the finished product looks like is helpful to understanding what you need to find and provide on the front end.  You […]

One of the most common RFEs H-1B applicants have faced over the past few years is the wage level issue RFE.  Beneficiaries working at wage level one are particularly at risk for this RFE because USCIS assumes that this indicates the position is entry level, and in some cases this call into question whether the […]

USCIS just announced that submissions to be entered into the electronic H-1B lottery will take place between March 1st and March 20th, 2020.  The submission fee is $10, and a completed petition is not required. Applicants selected will have 90 days to complete the filing. If you, or if your employee or client is selected […]

USCIS has announced that starting in 2020, H-1B petitions will be filed in a new electronic manner that streamlines the process. Between March 1st and March 20th, 2020, employers must register online to submit H-1B employees’ names into a lottery.  Through an electronic selection process, beneficiaries chosen will be given a registration number, through which […]

Expert opinion letters have meant the difference between rejection and approval since USCIS adjudication practices surrounding various aspects of H-1B eligibility have changed. An expert opinion letter can address wage level issues, specialty occupation issues, and employer-employee relationship issues, and your expert opinion letter ought to address all three in one.  However, even the right […]

The past few years have not been easy on the H-1B program.  Now, over the next few months, new regulations surrounding immigration to the United States will be introduced that will continue to impact H-1B beneficiaries, the employers that hire them, and the lawyers who represent them.  Next month, December 2019, DHS announced they will […]

The Specialty Occupation RFE has become the scourge of H-1B hopefuls and their teams, and they are impacting occupations that had never been called into question before 2017.  With the high rate of H-1B RFEs, it is important to understand what Specialty Occupation means, how the burden of proof as shifted in the past few […]