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While RFE rates have declined from recent highs, H-1B applicants are still running into trouble with regards to specialty occupation, wage level, and employer-employee relationship.  That is because these three eligibility requirements are still under attack with proposed rule changes to restrict them.  In the past, USCIS has been caught and convicted of illegally rejecting […]

Green Card processing is a long and frustrating process, notorious for excessive wait times that can last decades.  In 2021, only 65,452 family preference Green Cards were issued of the 226,000 available Green Cards.  In May of this year, the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders recommended steps to USCIS […]

If you submitted an H-1B petition and have not received a response, you are not alone.  USCIS has announced they are experiencing backlogs and staffing shortages.  In an effort to move the adjudication process along, they will be transferring certain petitions from the Vermont Service Center to the California Service Center. In addition to processing […]

At the end of March, 115,217 of the over 300,000 H-1B electronic registrants were selected to file complete petitions by June 30, 2022.  That deadline is coming right up!  Don’t let the pressure stand in the way of filing an airtight petition that covers common approval issues which can lead to Denials, RFEs, and delayed […]

Whether you’re filing the initial H-1B petition or facing an education RFE, there are many cases in which the beneficiary will need to include a credential evaluation.  Here are some reasons why: No college or incomplete college Degree earned outside of the United States Degree is a three-year degree Generalized degree Degree in a major […]

Specialty occupation issues have triggered barriers to H-1B visa approval for about half of the past decade and continue to be a statutory target for restrictions on the H-1B program.  Beneficiaries, petitioners, and immigration attorneys have put countless hours of work into fighting back against these restrictions and holding USCIS accountable for illegally denying H-1B […]

Filing period is well underway for the 127,600 H-1B registrants selected in the first lottery of FY2023.  This March, USCIS received 483,927 electronic registrations, significantly increased from the 308,613 registrations submitted last year.  A larger number of registrations were selected in the lottery this year, as FY2022 required three rounds of lotteries to meet the […]

It’s time for those selected in the H-1B lottery to file complete petitions.  An airtight petition will prevent any RFEs or other adjudication hang-ups standing between your employee and their start date.  Before you file, go through this checklist to make sure any potential weaknesses in your case are addressed: Double-check all documents to make […]

For those selected in the H-1B lottery, it is time to start filing completed petitions.  That means it is time to anticipate likely hurdles to outright approval based on USCIS adjudication trends. One common complex RFE we have been seeing over the past few years is the Double RFE.  We expect this one to be […]