CASE: H-1B Visa Petition
PETITIONER: IT Consulting Company in Jacksonville, FL
BENEFICIARY: Indian Systems Analyst in Charlotte, NC
Our client is an IT Consulting Company located in Jacksonville, FL. They contacted our office in the middle of February last year to seek legal assistance for a possible H-1B petition for their foreign employee.
The beneficiary obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology in Belgium. Beneficiary is currently working in the United States under L-1 status. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is a Systems Analyst which we argued qualifies as a specialty occupation.
Upon retention, our office prepared and eventually filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on March 31, 2016 via regular processing. This H-1B petition was selected after the lottery.
However, on September 29, 2016, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s H-1B petition. USCIS requested Petitioner to submit additional evidence to establish that the proffered position to the beneficiary qualified as a “Specialty Occupation”, plus additional questions about the “in-house” nature of the employment. Moreover, the RFE requested our client to prove the Beneficiary’s qualification is sufficient to work as a systems analyst.
We gathered supporting documents from both the Petitioner and Beneficiary and did research on the industry, focusing on similarly sized businesses, to demonstrate that a bachelor’s degree is commonly required for this position. We also provided in-house employment proof.
In the response brief, our office argued that the degree requirement is common to this industry in parallel positions among similar organizations. We provided evidence that the position of Systems Analyst or Computer Systems Analyst is a common position required by similarly sized IT consulting company. Also, we provided evidence that Petitioner’s competitors normally require degrees in a specific specialty for closely related positions like that of Systems Analyst. Moreover, our office asserted that the nature of the specific duties is so specialized and complex that knowledge required to perform the duties is usually associated with the attainment of a baccalaureate or higher degree in a specific specialty. Furthermore, we included several professional evaluation letters for Beneficiary’s degree and previous work experience to demonstrate that he is qualified. Other documents pertaining to an in-house project was also submitted.
Our office filed a detailed Response to RFE brief with many exhibits to the USCIS Vermont Service Center on December 19, 2016. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on January 12, 2017. Now, the beneficiary can work for the Petitioner until August 2019.