CASE: H-1B Visa Petition Extension
PETITIONER: School District in Mohave Valley, AZ
BENEFICIARY: Filipina Elementary Education Teacher
ISSUES: Cap-Exempt, Research Organization
Our client is a public school district affiliated with several institutions of higher education. They contacted our office in February 2020 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is an Elementary Education Teacher from the Philippines who has been working for this employer for last 5 years under J-1 / H-1B status. She wanted to extend her H-1B status which will be expired at the end of June 2020.
The proffered position for the Beneficiary is an Elementary Education 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 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) and it is an extension petition.
Once retained, our office filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on March 19, 2020 via regular processing. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on April 28, 2020 without any Request for Evidence (RFE). She can now work for her employer for next three years on an H-1B status.