CASE: H-1B Visa Petition
PETITIONER: IT Consulting Company in New Jersey
BENEFICIARY: Indian Systems Analyst in India
Our client is an IT Consulting Company located in New Jersey. They contacted our office in early July of this year to seek legal assistance for possible H-1B petitions for a prospective foreign employee.
The beneficiary obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in India. The proffered position for the Beneficiary was a Systems Analyst which we argued qualifies as a specialty occupation. The beneficiary had an H-1B before and he started to work for his previous employer in 2007, but his employment was terminated though in August 2007 when he left for India 3 weeks from the initial H-1B date. His previous H-1B was valid until April 10, 2010 so our office argued that his unused H-1b time can be recaptured and his H-1B petition can be under a change of employer basis which means no cap limitation.
Upon retention, our office prepared and eventually filed the H-1B change of employer petition with various supporting documents on July 10, 2014 via regular processing. However, the USCIS mailed a Request for Evidence to the Petitioner-Employer and requested Petitioner to submit additional evidence to establish that the proffered position to the beneficiary qualified as a “Specialty Occupation” on September 15, 2014, 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 October 17, 2014. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on November 10, 2014. 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.