H-1B Visa RFE – Sound Advice – Part I
Now that we have filed our H-1B visa petitions, we are awaiting the dreaded lengthy Requests for Evidence (RFE) from USCIS. We will enjoy a relative peace for a short time until the H-1B visa RFE’s are mailed to us containing lengthy boilerplate inquiries and additional extensive document requests. Any employer or attorney who has filed more than a handful of H-1b visa petitions has seen these RFE’s. One of my Columbus, Ohio clients complained to me that he finds the RFE’s irritating not only because they are lengthy, but because they are intrusive and ask questions that are not relevant most of the time. For me they are irritating because they ask the same question from the same employer over and over. Going back few years the number of RFE’s issued were substantially less. Now, we see them more often. My advice is to get organized. From my experience, the H-1B visa RFE’s usually inquire about four broad categories.
1. Information pertaining to the employer.
2. Information pertaining to the employee
3. Information pertaining to the relationship between the employer and the employee
4. Information pertaining the job opportunity.
First of all, you should be aware that there is considerable overlap and interplay between the categories. For example if the RFE is requesting whether the job is a specialty occupation, you know the inquiry is related to the “job opportunity.” But also be aware that the nature of the employment arrangement is also in question as well. In outsourcing situations, for example, evidence pertaining to the specialty occupation will not be satisfactory if it comes form the employer/petitioner. USCIS expects that such evidence to come form the end client where the employee will be located. Also matters related to the length of the assignment become relevant. Does the end client have work for the H-1B employee for the duration of the H-1b visa? This has to be addressed within the context of the specialty occupation inquiry.
We will address each of the four categories in more detail with examples in the upcoming blogs.
