CASE: H-1B Extension With Potential Specialty Occupation Issues
TYPE OF PETITIONER: Hotel
POSITION: Hotel General Manager
LOCATION: Ohio
Our client is a Pakistani national who has been on H-1B status for over 8 years. His H-1B had been extended for one year at a time for the past two years. Within the past year, an I-140 Petition was approved with him as the beneficiary. He consulted with our office regarding filing an extension. Our office reviewed his documents and with the approved I-140, informed him that the H-1B extension would be a 3-year extension. Another issue is his position – that of a hotel general manager. For this year, the position is deemed under ONET classifications as a Job Zone 3 position which does not require a bachelor’s degree. Unless we can persuade the USCIS that a hotel general manager for the Petitioner is a “specialty occupation” the H-1B may be denied. Upon discussing the case with the Petitioner regarding the specific description of the position, we prepared a detailed employment letter together with a more extensive cover letter to argue upfront that the hotel general manager in this instance is a specialty occupation, that the position is so complex that it requires someone possessing at least a Bachelors Degree. The I-140 approval was also attached and a portion of the cover letter cited the AC-21 regulation allowing for a 3-year extension. On April 15, 2010, the H-1B extension was filed. 3 weeks later, our client informed us that new ownership has taken over the petitioner. They were wondering if the filing fees submitted were useless as they assumed an amendment should now be filed. Our office assured them that no amendment is needed and sent a letter together with a citation of INA § 214(c)(10) which specifically addressed this issue. On June 16, 2010, with no Requests for Evidence by the CIS addressing the issue of whether the position was a specialty occupation, our client’s 3-year H-1B extension was approved.
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