Prevailing Wage Determination Period Expires June 30th

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Rachel Horner   As the end of June quickly approaches, PERM applicants should keep in mind if their Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD) expires on the 30th. In this instances, candidates must begin some portion of the PERM recruitment process before the June 30th deadline. Beginning July 1st, the data used for the prevailing wage resets, placing the validity of the position itself in jeopardy. But the good news is, as long as even one step in the PERM recruitment process begins prior to the prevailing wage’s expiration, the DOL will honor that wage for the entire advertising campaign. We talk about this—and more—in our blog posts Top 5 Things ...

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What is a Specialty Occupation, and How Can Your H-1B Petition Meet a Specialty Occupation RFE?

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Matt Gerardi You did everything right: filed your H-1B registration perfectly, got selected for a chance to submit an H-1B cap-subject petition, and submitted an airtight case with all the necessary forms and supporting documents. Now, all there is to do is wait for the approval to roll in. But what’s that? USCIS has reviewed your petition materials, and instead of the approval you were expecting, you’ve been issued a request for evidence because the agency isn’t convinced the job at the center of your case is a “specialty occupation.” What now? What does that even mean? And how are you supposed to prove something so blatantly obvious to USCIS? No need to worry. Park Evaluations is here to talk you ...

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How to Avoid Common Pitfalls for L-1, O-1, and NIW Petitions: Tips from Our Head Evaluator

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By: Rachel Horner  While 2020 was a tough year for immigration, petitions continued to be filed, and attorneys are ramping up again to avoid the latest USCIS challenges—including for non-H1B options like the L-1A/B, O-1, and National Interest Waivers (NIW). Our expert evaluator, Howard Borenstein, gave a presentation detailing some of the more common mistakes made during these petitions that are likely to attract USCIS’s attention. Below we’ve highlighted some of the most important takeaways to remember for each of these petition types.    L-1A Petition: Discerning the difference between a Functional or Personnel Manager.  While the criteria for Managerial ...

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What a Premium Position Letter From Park Evaluation Can Do For Your H1B Petition

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By Patrick Boody   While the positional analyses Park Evaluations and our team of professors, together, provide are well-equipped to make the argument that a job offered by a client organization is a specialty occupation as defined by USCIS, the premium position evaluation, alternatively, can further this argument to a degree of thoroughness and detail otherwise unattainable in our standard service. Before talking about what our premium letters entail, let us define again USCIS’s concept of specialty occupation. Accordingly, USCIS considers a position to be a specialty occupation if it requires a) a bachelor’s degree, its foreign equivalent or a degree higher than a bachelor’s; b) the degree the position requires is comparable to ...

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Former President Trump’s Ban on H-1B Visa Reaches Expiration

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Rachel Horner  When COVID-19 emerged last year, there was no telling the extents of its effects. However, early on, it was obvious that immigration would be one of the first industries to take a dire hit. A few months into the pandemic, the Trump Administration issued a proclamation which banned foreign nationals on “non-immigrant” visas, including the H-1B visa, from entering the country. The ban was extended by Trump to run until March 31, 2021. However, following that date’s passing, business immigration received welcome news—the Biden-Harris Administration has allowed its expiration to occur.     Now that Proclamation 10052 is over with, what’s next for those who were affected? 

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Choosing the Right Work Experience Evaluation for your H-1B Petition

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Patrick Boody  When it comes to evaluating a foreign national’s work experience, it is essential to capture the breadth of what they have accomplished over the extent of their career, no matter its length, to equate such work experience and academic credentials to the possession of a U.S. degree in an applicable field. Here at Park Evaluations, we grant such equivalences through our in-house expert letters as well as those written by the professors with whom we partner. In sum, what differentiates the two is additional content contributing more significantly to the argument that over a candidate’s career, they have amassed what United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) calls—and 

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USCIS Announces Selections for H-1B Cap Subject Petitions 

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Rachel Horner  USCIS officially began its selection process for this year’s CAP Season. The announcement sent to those who participated in the registration process on March 29, 2021 stated those selected to file for H-1B CAP-subject petitions will be notified no later than March 31st, 2021 via their official USCIS online account.   The petitions that do not receive a selection notification are still outstanding, however. USCIS is not at its cap for selected petitions yet. Registrants will not be notified of a denial until USCIS's selection process is fully complete. 

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USCIS to Reconsider Denied Petitions after Rescinding Three Policy Memos

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Rachel Horner  Additional Writing By: Kelsi Swenson  On March 12, 2021, USCIS announced some welcome news for recipients of denied H-1B visa petitions: if any of the three recently rescinded  policy memos served as the basis for USCIS's denial, the petition is eligible for reconsideration. This latest announcement suggests that USCIS is clearing its system of outdated, unforgiving policies, and to make way for new, more progressive policies. Recap of the Policies Rescinded by USCIS The first two policy memos both targeted petitions that involved third-party worksites, which are especially popular in the IT sector. These policies came from a general wariness around the notion that IT companies could contract their employees to a third-party company, ...

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