CASE: H-1B Visa Petition
PETITIONER: School District in Eagle Butte, SD
BENEFICIARY: Filipina Elementary School Teacher
ISSUES: Cap-Exempt, Nonprofit Organization Affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education
Our client is a public school district affiliated with several institutions of higher education. They contacted our office in January 2021 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is an Elementary School Teacher from the Philippines who has been working for this employer for the last 5 years under a J-1 status. Though she was subject to the INA 212(e), two-year foreign residency requirement, she obtained a J-1 waiver from the USCIS through our firm’s legal assistance.
The proffered position for the Beneficiary is an Elementary School Teacher. We showed that this is a “specialty occupation” because the minimum requirement for this position is a Bachelor’s Degree in Education or its equivalent.
In the first week of April 2020, the numerical cap of H-1B visas for fiscal year 2021 was already reached. However, our client is qualified for cap-exempt petitions since it is a non-profit organization affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education as defined in 8 C.F.R. 214.2(h)(19)(iii)(B).
Once retained, our office filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on January 26, 2021, via premium processing. On February 3, 2021, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit more documents to prove its affiliation with institutions of higher education. Our office prepared the response and filed the Response to RFE on March 30, 2021. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on April 13, 2021. She can now work for her employer for three years on an H-1B status.