Sample Cases from our office

The following case is an example of USCIS blanket revocations based upon criminal convictions. Fortunately, USCIS did keep an open mind and permitted us to show the law and the facts in their proper light without having to go to the Court over this. 

A petitioner with several employees filed an I-140 application for a beneficiary using substituted labor. USCIS approved the I-140. The beneficiary filed an I-485 application and ported to other employers. Meanwhile, USCIS received a letter of withdrawal of the I-140 petition from petitioner’s representative whom USCIS found had never worked for petitioner. Later, the employer/petitioner pled guilty to mail fraud and admitted to each element of the crime. USCIS found all petitions filed by that petitioner fraudulent. USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) the beneficiary’s I-140 FIVE years after the I-140 approval and after the beneficiary had ported twice to new employers. We took over the case and filed a response. We pointed out all the legal infirmities with sweeping generalization that overturns all approved cases based upon a conviction. We also pointed out item by item how every allegation in the NOIR was, in fact, without basis in law or fact. USCIS reaffirmed approval of the I-140. Later, the beneficiary’s I- 485 was also approved.

We filed a PERM application under EB-2 for a Senior Programmer Analyst’s position early this year. Three months later, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Audit Notification. Immediately following our response, DOL denied the application, citing that our audit response did not include a copy of the job order. Our response, in the form of an MTR (Motion to Reconsider)/Appeal, included a clear exposition of the law and a BALCA decision in which the Administrative Law Judge held that the job order is not a mandatory document required to be submitted, and therefore, the denial was erroneous. Given that the denial reason was clearly an error on DOL’s part, we requested the case be placed into the government error queue so that the case would quickly be reopened and approved. Within one week, DOL certified the labor application.

The applicant completed a three-year Diploma in Computer Engineering from an accredited institution in India (Government Polytechnic Mumbai). The applicant was then directly admitted to the second year Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) program at an advanced level and completed the four-year degree B.E. program.

We provided several items of evidence that indicated that the applicant had attained the foreign equivalent of a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from an accredited U.S. college or university.

The I-140 was approved.

We were retained to file H-1B extension for the job title of Manager, HR and Training Operations [SOC (ONET/OES) Occupation Title of 11-3131 Training and Development Manager]. USCIS questioned that the job does not qualify as specialty occupation because the position falls within the category of HR Managers, and, as such, no specific degree or education is required to train for the position of HR Manager.

This was a very difficult case because we had the task of differentiating the proffered position of Manager, HR and Training Operations from that of HR Manager, even though Beneficiary was performing some of the HR Manager functions and his job title appeared to be similar to HR Manager.

We argued in the RFE using decided cases that USCIS should take into account the nature, scope, and size of the Petitioner’s business enterprise along with Petitioner's hierarchy/staffing levels to determine the importance of Beneficiary’s position. We provided data from various universities and arguments how the data correlates with the offered job.

USCIS accepted our arguments and approved the case.

The applicant had a Ph.D. (Physics), Master of Science (Physics), Bachelor of Education, and Bachelor of Science and more than fourteen years’ research experience working for several world-renowned institutions.  Her discipline was Biometeorology – Atmospheric Scientist.  We were able to provide substantial documentary evidence of the applicant’s original contributions that began as early has her Ph.D. years.  The applicant had published some very significant articles that reflected years of data collection and analysis.  Thus, her publications were cited heavily in top scientific journals with high impact factors.  The applicant had also been invited to participate on editorial review boards due to her noteworthy research, unique expertise, and related international reputation.  In addition, she participated as a reviewer for a significant number of high impact international journals, the selection criteria of which required the scientist to have an outstanding reputation in the field as determined by publication history and significance, citation volume within the specialty, and overall impact of the research.  Reference letters from leading experts clearly defined this applicant as one of the very top scientists in this unique specialty of biometeorology.  We filed an EB-1 petition premium processing and received an approval within a week.