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 the middle of February this year to seek legal assistance for a possible H-1B petitions for prospective foreign employees.
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, 2014 via regular processing. This H-1B petition was selected after the lottery.
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 June 26, 2014. The USCIS requested the Petitioner to submit more evidence regarding whether similar businesses in the same industry require a degree or its equivalence for the proffered position.
The USCIS was skeptical and argued that the proffered “Systems Analyst” position in Petitioner’s business did not qualify as a “Specialty Occupation”. They mentioned that the law clearly states that an H-1B classification may be granted to an alien who will perform services in a specialty occupation which requires theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and attainment of a baccalaureate or higher degree or its equivalent as a minimum requirement for entry into the occupation in the United States, and who is qualified to perform services in the specialty occupation because he has attained a baccalaureate or higher degree or its equivalent in the specialty occupation.
The main issue for the client’s H-1B application was whether the “Systems Analyst” position for this IT Consulting Company Petitioner required a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent to make this position a “specialty occupation.”
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.
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 exhibits to the USCIS Vermont Service Center on July 23, 2014. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on August 7, 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 from October 1, 2014 for three years.