CASE: H-1B Petition
PETITIONER: Nursing Home Facility in Texas
BENEFICIARY: Nurse Manager, Filipina
Our client is a Nursing Home Facility near Houston, TX. They contacted our office in late February to seek legal assistance for their prospective foreign employee.
The beneficiary obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing in the Philippines. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is a Nurse Manager. We argued that this position is a “specialty occupation” and that the minimum requirement for this position is a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing or its equivalent. We emphasized that Nurse Manager position is clearly different from a registered nurse because the Nurse Manager will be responsible for both managerial and clinical duties.
After retention, our office prepared and filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on April 1, 2013 via regular processing. However, the USCIS California Service Center issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) on July 25, 2013.
The USCIS argued that the offered position does not qualify as a “specialty occupation.” They claimed that a Bachelor’s degree was not required for this position. They claimed that the beneficiary’s position is not specialized and complex enough to be qualified as a specialty occupation as the law requires.
In response to the RFE, our office argued in a response brief with multiple exhibits that the nature of the specific duties are so specialized and complex that knowledge required to perform the duties is usually associated with the attainment of a Bachelor’s degree. We also included a detailed statement regarding the number of registered nurses the Beneficiary will supervise. Moreover, we argued that the degree requirement is common to the industry in parallel positions among similar organizations. Furthermore, we included an organization chart for the department where the beneficiary will be assigned.
Our office filed the response to the USCIS Vermont Service Center on October 16, 2013. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on December 23, 2013. Now the Beneficiary can work for the Petitioner on an H-1B status until September 13, 2016 as a Nurse Manager.