CASE: H-1B Visa Petition (Change of Employer)
PETITIONER: Hotel-Chain Company
BENEFICIARY: Hotel General Manager
Our client is the fastest-growing extended hotel stay chain company in Ohio. They contacted our office in early April to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is from Pakistan and has extensive work history in the United States as a General Manager in one of the leading brand hotels for 15 years.
The issue was whether this position is a “specialty occupation”. We had to argue that the minimum requirement for this position is at least a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration / Hotel Management or equivalent.
The foreign beneficiary in this case already had his H-1B visa from his previous employer in a similar industry. However, his H-1B visa was not expired yet, and he wanted to extend his H-1B status based on a change in employer.
After retention, our office filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on April 15, 2013 via regular processing. Since this petition was based on a change in employer, this petition was exempted from the annual H-1B cap.
Eventually, without any request for evidence (RFE), our client’s H-1B Petition was approved on August 15, 2013. Moreover, Beneficiary’s wife and minor son’s H-4 status was properly changed as well.
Now the Beneficiary can work for his Petitioner-Employer as an H-1B visa holder and he can work there until 2016.