CASE: H-1B Visa Petition

PETITIONER: School District in Eagle Butte, SD

BENEFICIARY: Filipina Elementary School Teacher

ISSUES: Cap-Exempt, Nonprofit Organization Affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education

Our client is a public school district affiliated with several institutions of higher education. They contacted our office in January 2021 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is an Elementary School Teacher from the Philippines who has been working for this employer for the last 5 years under a  J-1 status. Though she was subject to the INA 212(e), two-year foreign residency requirement, she obtained a J-1 waiver from the USCIS through our firm’s legal assistance. 

The proffered position for the Beneficiary is an Elementary School Teacher. We showed that this is a “specialty occupation” because the minimum requirement for this position is a Bachelor’s Degree in Education or its equivalent.

In the first week of April 2020, the numerical cap of H-1B visas for fiscal year 2021 was already reached. However, our client is qualified for cap-exempt petitions since it is a non-profit organization affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education as defined in 8 C.F.R. 214.2(h)(19)(iii)(B). 

Once retained, our office filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on January 26, 2021, via premium processing. On February 3, 2021, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit more documents to prove its affiliation with institutions of higher education. Our office prepared the response and filed the Response to RFE on March 30, 2021. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on April 13, 2021. She can now work for her employer for three years on an H-1B status.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification

EMPLOYER: Public School District

BENEFICIARY: Filipina High School Math Teacher

LOCATION: Casa Grande, AZ

Our client has a current employer that was willing to petition her for a third-preference petition (I-140).  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Education, a valid Arizona Teaching license, and has worked for her current employer since August 2015. Based on her education and credentials, she is eligible for EB-3 classification for her I-140 petition.  Our client eventually retained us in September 2019.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that the PERM application could only be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on February 10, 2020.  On April 20, 2020, we promptly filed PERM. 

On September 24, 2020, the Department of Labor issued an audit request. The DOL requested documents from the Petitioner to determine whether the recruitment process was done properly. In response to the Audit request, our office prepared the response to Audit brief along with Employer’s declaration, notice of filing, and recruitment documentation on October 16, 2020.   

Eventually, on March 22, 2021, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Filipina beneficiary. Our client can file the I-140 petition at any time.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification

EMPLOYER: Public School District

BENEFICIARY: Filipina High School Math Teacher

LOCATION: Casa Grande, AZ

Our client has a current employer that was willing to petition her for a third-preference petition (I-140).  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Education, a valid Arizona Teaching license, and has worked for her current employer since August 2015. Based on her education and credentials, our office determined that she is clearly eligible for EB-3 classification for her I-140 petition.  Our client eventually retained us in September 2019.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that the PERM application could only be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on February 6, 2020.  On April 13, 2020, we promptly filed PERM. 

On September 24, 2020, the Department of Labor issued a request for audit. The DOL requested documents from the Petitioner to determine whether the recruitment process was done properly. In response to the Audit request, our office prepared the response to Audit brief along with Employer’s declaration, notice of filing, and recruitment documentation on October 16, 2020.   

Eventually, on March 22, 2021, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Filipina beneficiary. Our client can file the I-140 petition at any time.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification

EMPLOYER: Public School District

BENEFICIARY: Filipina High School Science Teacher

LOCATION: Casa Grande, AZ

Our client has a current employer that was willing to petition her for a third-preference petition (I-140).  She has a Bachelor’s degree in Education, a valid Arizona Teaching license, and has worked for her current employer since September 2015. Based on her education and credentials, our office determined that she is eligible for EB-3 classification.  Our client eventually retained us in September 2019.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM. Take note that the PERM application could only be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on February 7, 2020. The ads were also done.  On April 16, 2020, we filed PERM. 

On September 24, 2020, the Department of Labor issued an audit. The DOL requested documents from the Petitioner to determine whether the recruitment process was done properly. In response to the Audit request, our office prepared the response to Audit brief along with Employer’s declaration, notice of filing, and recruitment documentation on October 20, 2020.   

Eventually, on March 22, 2021, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Filipina beneficiary. Our client can now file the I-140 petition at any time.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification

EMPLOYER: Public School District

BENEFICIARY: Filipina Elementary School Teacher

LOCATION: Mohave Valley, AZ

Our client has an employer that was willing to petition for a third-preference teaching position (I-140).  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, a valid Arizona Teaching license, and has worked for her current employer since July 2014. Based on our client’s education and license background, she is eligible for EB-3 classification.  Our client eventually retained us in May 2019.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that the PERM application could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on September 13, 2019.  On January 7, 2020, we promptly filed PERM. 

On July 28, 2020, the Department of Labor issued a request for audit. The DOL requested documents from the Petitioner to determine whether the recruitment process was done properly. In response to the Audit request, our office prepared the response to Audit brief along with Employer’s declaration, notice of filing, and recruitment documentation on August 18, 2020.   

Eventually, on December 23, 2020, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Filipina beneficiary. Our client can file the I-140 petition at any time.

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CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Exceptional Hardship

 NATIONALITY: Filipina

 LOCATION: Oakley, CA

Our client came from the Philippines as a J-1 teacher. Her J-1 status made her subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. Our client would like to file her adjustment of status application along with her U.S. Citizen husband’s I-130 petition; however, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, she had to obtain a waiver first.

Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue her waiver under the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA) due to her previous marriage in the Philippines. Her only option was through exceptional hardship. 

According to 8 C.F.R. Section 212.7(c)(5), “an alien who is subject to the foreign residence requirement and who believes that compliance therewith would impose exceptional hardship upon her spouse or child who is a citizen of the United States… may apply for a waiver on Form I-612.” 

Some of the factors in analyzing exceptional hardship are as follows: age of the subject, family ties in the U.S. and abroad, length and residency in the U.S., health / medical conditions, conditions in the country of removal – economic and political, financial status – business and occupation, position in / ties to the community. Matter of Anderson, 16 I&N Dec. 596 (BIA 1978). 

After she retained our firm, we prepared and filed a waiver request through the exceptional hardship basis. On April 26, 2019, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State.  Our office prepared an affidavit for our client, an extensive brief in support for our client’s J-1 waiver application, and other supporting documents. Our client provided us with medical documents and doctor’s reports for her U.S. citizen husband’s medical condition.  

On May 9, 2019, our office filed an I-612 application to the USCIS. We asked for them to issue and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client’s husband would experience exceptional hardship in the scenarios of relocation and separation. 

The USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) on March 16, 2020. They requested our client to submit more hardship documents. Our office thoroughly prepared the Response to RFE and filed it to the USCIS on May 22, 2020. 

Eventually, the USCIS approved his I-612 waiver on December 8, 2020. Now that our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement is waived, she can file her adjustment of status application along with her husband’s I-130 petition in the United States. 

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CASE: H-1B Visa Petition

PETITIONER: School District in New Town, ND

BENEFICIARY: Filipino Special Education Teacher

ISSUES: Cap-Exempt, Nonprofit Organization Affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education

Our client is a public school district affiliated with several institutions of higher education. They contacted our office in September 2020 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is a Special Education Teacher from the Philippines who has been working for this employer for several years under J-1 status. Though he was subject to the INA 212(e), two-year foreign residency requirement, he already obtained a J-1 waiver from the USCIS. 

The proffered position for the Beneficiary is a Special Education Teacher. We showed that this is a “specialty occupation” because the minimum requirement for this position is a Bachelor’s Degree in Education or its equivalent.

In the first week of April, the numerical cap of H-1B visas for fiscal year 2021 was already reached. However, our client is qualified for cap-exempt petitions since it is a non-profit organization affiliated with an Institution of Higher Education as defined in 8 C.F.R. 214.2(h)(19)(iii)(B). 

Once retained, our office filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on October 16, 2020, via premium processing. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on October 30, 2020 without any RFE.  He can now work for his employer for three years on an H-1B status.

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CASE: J-1 Waiver (No Objection Statement)

NATIONALITY: Philippines

LOCATION: Eagle Butte, SD

Our client came from the Philippines on a J-1 in August 2015 to work as a teacher. She was subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. She now has a US Citizen child and she wishes to apply for a waiver. 

Our office told our client that she can apply for a waiver under the No Objection Statement category based on the fact that she has a U.S. citizen child. 

On July 12, 2019, the J-1 Waiver Application (Form DS-3035) was filed to the Department of State.  We then prepared the EVP Packet upon receipt of her documents. On November 14, 2020, our office sent our client’s materials to the Waiver Review Committee in Manila, Philippines.  They eventually approved the No Objection Statement, forwarded the approval to the Philippine Consulate in DC to issue the official NOS, and the then on September 10, 2020, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement.  Eventually, on September 23, 2020, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver.

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CASE: J-1 Waiver (No Objection Statement)

NATIONALITY: Philippines

LOCATION: Christiansted, VI

Our client came from the Philippines on a J-1 visa in September 2016 to work as a teacher. She was subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. Her wanted sponsor her green card and she consulted with our firm for her J-1 visa waiver prior to applying for adjustment of status. If someone is subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, he or she cannot get a green card in the United States until he or she fulfills the requirement or obtains a waiver.

Our office told our client that she can apply for a waiver under the No Objection Statement category based on the fact that she has a U.S. citizen son. 

On March 3, 2020, the J-1 Waiver Application (Form DS-3035) was filed to the Department of State.  We then prepared and filed the No Objection Request to the EVP. Eventually, the No Objection Statement was issued. 

On September 10, 2020, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement.  On September 23, 2020, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification

EMPLOYER: Public School District

BENEFICIARY: Filipina High School Math Teacher

LOCATION: Casa Grande, AZ

Our client has a current employer that was willing to petition her for a third-preference petition (I-140).  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Education, a valid Arizona Teaching license, and has worked for her current employer since August 2015. Based on our education and credentials, our office determined that she is clearly eligible for EB-3 classification for her I-140 petition.  Our client eventually retained us in September 2019.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that the PERM application could only be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on February 17, 2020.  On April 26, 2020, we promptly filed PERM. 

Eventually, on September 18, 2020, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Filipina beneficiary. Our client can file the I-140 petition at any time.

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