Category: H-1B

Specialty Occupation Challenges – How disparate is too disparate?

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Hannah Welbourn During the first Trump administration, one highly scrutinized area of the H-1B was the acceptable degree requirements for a specialty occupation. While we can’t predict what this year's RFEs will look like, specialty occupation remains the main challenge we see on H-1B RFEs, and degree requirements remain the crux of the issue for many, if not most, of those cases. Specialty occupations such as computer programmers were significantly challenged during the first Trump administration. In most cases, these roles would require a degree in computer science. While some degree fields, such as information technology, software engineering, or computer engineering, often overlap significantly with computer science in coursework and skills, others may pose challenges. As an example, a candidate with a ...

Continue Reading   

A Closer Look at 3-Year Degrees: Not All Created Equal

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Hannah Welbourn and Mai Bui While navigating employment-based petitions, especially the H-1B, the duration of a program can be a frequent point of confusion. One question we often see: How could a three-year degree be equivalent to a U.S. Bachelor’s? It’s important to consider not only the number of years of study but also the structure, educational conventions, and historical contexts of the academic system behind the credential. In the United States, a Bachelor’s degree typically involved four years of post-secondary education. However, in many countries, especially those following British or Commonwealth systems, Bachelor’s degrees are often completed in three years. Whether these degrees are considered equivalent to a U.S. Bachelor’s degree depends largely on two factors: what is required to ...

Continue Reading   

What is a Work Experience “Combo” Expert Opinion?

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Hannah Welbourn Last time, we covered necessary information for ensuring a strong petition support by one of Park’s Academic EDGE-enhanced evaluations. But what about cases where the beneficiary’s underlying academic credentials don’t make the Specialty Occupation cut? For cases where academic credentials alone don’t meet the necessary standards for immigration purposes, reach out to eval@parkeval.com for a Work Experience or “Combo” Expert Opinion Letter. These letters apply USCIS’ 3:1 rule, which allows three years of progressive, relevant work experience to be evaluated as equivalent to one year of college-level experience, up to four years. Our team of experts, who are college professors in a wide range of fields, are authorized to grant college-level experience through their university’s Prior Learning ...

Continue Reading   

What is an Academic Evaluation?

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Hannah Welbourn Most H-1B nonimmigrant visa petitions require an academic evaluation at some point if the candidate did not attend a U.S. university. Academic Evaluations provide an equivalence for the foreign national’s original foreign credentials. They show that the foreign national represented in the petition has at least the equivalent of a U.S. Bachelor’s degree, a key point of evidence needed to satisfy the Specialty Occupation standard for awarding an H-1B visa. As H-1B CAP season revs up in one of the tensest political environments to date, your safe bet this year is to go with Park’s EDGE evaluations, which include reference to the AACRAO EDGE database recommended by USCIS. When you reach out to eval@parkeval.com to request an ...

Continue Reading   

Overcoming H-1B Challenges for Highly Educated Beneficiaries: How Specialized Graduate Studies Can Strengthen Your Case

Posted by: Park Evaluations | in ,

By: Maddie Carlson Challenges imposed on H-1B petitions can cause quite a headache, especially when a beneficiary is clearly overqualified to perform the responsibilities of their proffered role. While boasting higher-level graduate studies can be to the benefit of a beneficiary in many cases, the basic verbiage surrounding what they completed their studies in can sometimes be to their detriment. When it comes to fulfilling degree requirements for highly educated beneficiaries, Park has resources tailored to properly represent your client. With over 20,000 petitions being filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a Master’s degree or higher annually, proving your clients’ ability to fulfill the academic requirements of their offered job roles can become quite tricky. This is especially true ...

Continue Reading   

Credential Evaluation Update: Equivalency Changes to Indian MCA Degrees

Posted by: Park Evaluations

By: Howard Borenstein In a 2020 development, India’s University Grants Commission approved a change in duration for the Indian Master of Computer Applications (MCA) degree— the MCA was shortened to a two-year program. This update is significant as students have now completed and are graduating from this new program. Formerly spanning three years of study, the program has transitioned to a two-year structure, starting with the class of 2020-21. The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) stated the decision was prompted by a decrease in enrollment of students coming from backgrounds not related to Computer Science, such as Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry. When the program was first introduced in ...

Continue Reading   

Search Blog

Categories

.