CASE: H-1B Visa Petition
PETITIONER: IT Consulting Company in Jacksonville, FL
BENEFICIARY: Indian Systems Analyst in India
Our client is an IT Consulting Company located in Jacksonville, FL. They contacted our office in the middle of February this year to seek legal assistance for a possible H-1B petition for their foreign employee.
The beneficiary obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in India. Beneficiary is currently residing at India. 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 13, 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.
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. 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 November 23, 2016. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on December 12, 2016. Now, the beneficiary can apply for an H-1B visa at the U.S. Embassy in India, and upon the issuance of visa, he can work for the Petitioner.