CASE: H-1B Visa Petition
PETITIONER: School District in Forrest City, AR
BENEFICIARY: Filipina High School Science 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 May 2022 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is a High School Science Teacher from the Philippines who has been working for this employer for the last several years under J-1 status. Her J-1 visa was not subject to the 2 year foreign residency requirement.
The proffered position for the Beneficiary is a High School Science 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, the numerical cap of H-1B visas for fiscal year 2023 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).
Upon retention, our office filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on June 28, 2022, via premium processing. On July 12, 2022, the USCIS California Service Center issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit additional documents to prove that the Petitioner is a non-profit organization affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education. Our office filed Response to RFE on July 19, 2022. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on August 2, 2022. She can now work for her employer for three years on an H-1B status.