The 3:1 Rule

The H1-B visa is a visa that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. When applying for the H-1B visa, one of the requirements is that the applicant has an equivalent of a United States Bachelor’s degree. Many times the applicant meets this requirement without too much of a problem. However, issues arise when an applicant has a foreign Bachelor’s degree that is only three years in duration. Most, but not all, foreign three-year Bachelor degrees are only equivalent to three years of undergraduate study in the United States. So what is one to do when their foreign degrees lacks the right level of equivalence needed for a H-1B visa?

Fortunately, USCIS has the rule 8 C.F.R. §214.2 (h)(4)(iii)(D)(5), otherwise known as the 3-for-1 rule. The rule states: “For purposes of determining equivalency to a Baccalaureate degree in the specialty, 3 years of specialized training and/or work experience must be demonstrated for each year of college-level training the alien lacks.” In laymen’s terms, the 3-for-1 rule allows for three (3) years of work experience to be counted as one (1) year of academic study in a related field.

Understanding the Rule

Let’s say an H1-B applicant from India only has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Well, a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from India is a three-year program, which means it’s only equivalent to three years of undergraduate study in the United States, thus falling short of the required equivalence of a US Bachelor’s degree.  But suppose that same applicant has three or more years of IT-related work experience. This is where the 3-for-1 rule would come into play.

The applicant would need to request an expert opinion letter, which is typically defined as any evaluation that is a combination of academic/experiential credentials performed by an independent expert/professor evaluation. It would be up to the expert/professor evaluation to review the applicant’s Computer Science degree, then judge their work experience and see that it is in line with their field of study. If the expert/professor evaluator deems that the work experience is in fact related, they would be able to go on and say that the applicant has the equivalent of a US Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science based on their combined academic and work experience. With this conclusion reached, the applicant would be able to apply for the H-1B Visa having met their Bachelor’s degree requirement.

However, that’s not the only application of the 3 – for – 1 rule; it can also be of help when an applicant has no education past high school but has more than twelve (12) years of work experience in a related field. An expert/professor evaluator would be able to say that the applicant has the equivalence of a bachelor’s degree based on their twelve years of work experience. So if an applicant has fourteen (14) years of work experience in IT, an expert/professor evaluator would be able to say that the applicant has the equivalence of a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science here in the US, in spite of having never completed a degree program at a university-level. However, it should be noted that this particular type of expert opinion letter is heavily scrutinized by USCIS.

Additional Uses For The 3:1 Rule

The 3-for-1 rule can also be applied to give dual degrees to an applicant. The first step towards this is that the applicant already has a foreign Bachelor’s degree that is the equivalent of a US Bachelor’s degree. The applicant would then need at least six (6) years of related work experience in a field that is not the same as the field in which they earned their degree. For example, if an applicant has the equivalence of a Bachelor of Fine Arts here in the US, but seven (7) years of work experience in IT, an expert/professor evaluator would be able to say that the candidate also has the equivalence of a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science here in the US.

With the proper combination of academics and work experience, it is even possible to be granted a US Master’s degree equivalence through the 3-for-1 rule. As with obtaining a dual degree equivalence, the first step is that the applicant already has a foreign Bachelor’s degree that is the equivalent of a US Bachelor’s degree. An expert/professor evaluator would then look for at least five (5) years of work experience in a field related to the field of study that the applicant earned their degree in. In this case, if an applicant has the equivalence of a US Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, plus six (6) years of work experience in IT, an expert/professor evaluator would be able to say that the applicant has the equivalence of a Master of Science in Computer Science here in the US.

The 3-for-1 rule is a great way to help any applicant who may need that extra boost to meet the academic equivalence needed, provided they have all the right work experience.