CASE: H-1B Change of Employer
PETITIONER: Architectural Design Company
BENEFICIARY: Turkish Architect
LOCATION: New York, NY
Our client is an architectural design firm headquartered in New York City. They contacted our office in May 2014 to seek assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is from Turkey and he obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in architecture. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is an architect which we argued qualifies as a specialty occupation
The foreign beneficiary in this case already had his H-1B from his previous employer which was in a similar industry. His H-1B status was not yet expired, and he wanted to extend his H-1B status on a change of employer basis.
After retention, our office promptly filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on May 20, 2014 via regular processing. Since this petition was based on a change of employer, this petition was exempt from the annual cap of the H-1B. Thus, we could file it even after the quotas are gone. There were no Requests for Evidence during the processing of the H-1B. Eventually, our client’s H-1B Petition was approved on August 25, 2014. Now the Beneficiary can work for his Petitioner-Employer as an H-1B visa holder and he can work there for the next three years.