CASE: H-1B Visa Petition
PETITIONER: School District in Casa Grande, AZ
BENEFICIARY: Filipina High School Science Teacher
ISSUES: Cap-Exempt, Nonprofit Organization Affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education
Our client is a public school district affiliated with several institutions of higher education. They contacted our office in July 2022 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is a High School Science Teacher from the Philippines and has lived in the United States on an H-4 status.
The proffered position for the Beneficiary is an Elementary School Teacher. We showed that this is a “specialty occupation” because the minimum requirement for this position is a Bachelor’s Degree in Education or its equivalent.
In the first week of April, the numerical cap of H-1B visas for fiscal year 2022 was already reached. However, our client is qualified for cap-exempt petitions since it is a non-profit organization affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education as defined in 8 C.F.R. 214.2(h)(19)(iii)(B).
Our office filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on August 9, 2022 via regular processing. On November 23, 2022, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit evidence that the foreign beneficiary has maintained her H-4 status until this H-1B application was filed. Our office prepared and filed the Response to RFE on December 5, 2022. Our client’s H-1B Petition was approved on January 11, 2023. Now the Beneficiary can work for her Petitioner-Employer as an H-1B visa holder and she can work there for next three years.