CASE: H-1B Visa Extension
PETITIONER: Korean Church in Virginia
BENEFICIARY: Korean Pastor
Our client is a Korean church in Virginia, serving the Korean community at a campus town. They contacted our office in late July of 2015 to seek legal assistance for its foreign beneficiary’s H-1B extension.
The beneficiary is Korean and obtained his Master of Divinity Degree in South Korea. The proffered position for the Beneficiary was for a Pastor which we argued qualified as a specialty occupation. We argued that the minimum requirement for this position is a Master of Divinity Degree or its equivalent. He has been working for the Petitioner on a valid H-1B visa.
Once retained, our firm prepared and eventually filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on August 21, 2015 via premium processing. Eventually, without any RFE, our client’s H-1B extension was approved on September 2, 2015. Now, the Beneficiary can continue to work for the Petitioner on an H-1B status until September 20, 2018 (until his duration of H-1B status reaches the 6th year mark).