Success Stories From 2013

Over the last few years, approvals of L-1B cases have become particularly difficult.  An L-1B (Intra-Company Transfer Visa) petitioner retained us after receiving a Request for Evidence from USCIS requiring additional proof that the beneficiary had specialized knowledge and that the job duties required an individual with unique knowledge of the petitioner’s complex technology.  We provided documentation to show that the beneficiary had skills that could not be obtained in the open market.  We were also able to show that, within the petitioner’s employee pool, the beneficiary was unique and had gained specialized knowledge through training and years of hands-on experience with the technology.  

USCIS agreed with our arguments and approved the petition.

We represented a physician working for a healthcare network within several counties of a Medically Underserved Area (MUA). Initially, we submitted the required documents, but the tricky issue was the division of the physician’s service over several counties. The approval in this case required that we work closely with officials from the State Health Department to provide proper documentation and verification of the full-time nature of the job, albeit across several areas and proof of physician shortage within each area. At the I-140 stage of the NIW, USCIS issued a relatively minor Request for Evidence requesting a recently dated full-time employment contract listing the full, required period of service. 

We submitted the contract, and the case was approved within a few weeks.

We were retained for an H-1B petition.  USCIS issued a Request for Evidence asking for proof that the beneficiary would be employed in-house and that the petitioner has sufficient specialty level work available for the beneficiary.  No project information or agreements entered into with the clients could be provided to USCIS as evidence because of the confidential nature of the projects that the beneficiary would be required to work on in-house.  Therefore, we relied on secondary evidence supported by legal arguments.  USCIS accepted our arguments and approved the application. Albeit inconsistently, USCIS does understand that sometimes it is impossible for an H-1B employer to provide expected documents because of confidentiality requirements in their contracts with end-clients.

We represented a physician working for a veteran’s facility within a medically underserved area.  The NIW was approved.  Before completing her waiver time, she needed to move from the approved location to another location AND switch from a MUA to the Veterans Administration. Unfortunately, the law and the procedures involved in moving MUA’s and moving from a MUA to another NIW mode are very poorly documented.  Some of the legal territories are just not well defined.  Nevertheless, we filed the appropriate petition,submitting what we believed were the required documents.  To meet the total five-year requirement, we also submitted employers’ letters to capture all prior service at other medical facilities within underserved areas while the applicant was on valid H-1B. 

USCIS acknowledged the prior service, approved the case, and assigned the original priority date to our client.

We filed an application seeking a waiver of the foreign residence requirement for our client based on exceptional hardship upon the client’s U.S. citizen child.  We argued that the minor child would suffer extreme hardship if he were forced to leave the U.S. with his mother to fulfill the two-year home residency requirement because of a serious medical condition, for which treatment was not readily available in the applicant’s home country.  We provided ample supporting documentation in this regard.

USCIS granted the waiver.