Have a question related to upcoming h1b extension (Beyond 6th year). Sorry for long post, but what to give you an insight.
My details are,
a) PERM & i140 have job title “IT Project Manager”. The page 3 of the PERM is where we mention job duties/job title? Is there any other place or additional document that attorney sends as far as job duties/job title while submitting PERM?
b) While PERM was still in process, we used same job title/job duties that of PERM for a h1b extension and was approved for 1 year.
c) after PERM approval, I had to extend again and this time the attorney said H1b job duties/job title should be different from PERM. So it was approved with “Solutions Architect” with job duties some what different that PERM (but not entirely different)
d) Now, I need to apply for h1b extension before July 31st, 2020 and Attorney mentioned to find out if the upcoming h1b petition job duties/job title vary more than 50% than PERM. I don’t know why he mentioned this and I have asked him the same.
It may due to the current trends with h1b extension cases? Clearly all of my job duties even in the current / upcoming h1b petition is something I had gained before working with USA employer. But does it still need to compared with PERM job duties (which was also prior to coming to USA) ?
e) Also what steps are recommended to make documentation perfect as far as Speciality occupation RFE? I myself have bachelors equivalent (as per education valuation) and the job has minimum requirement of bachelors degree. It doesn’t mention anything like Bachelors in Computer science or Masters and job requirement mentions “any suitable training/education is acceptable” and minimum 4 years of work experience. Does this look fine or it may lead to h1b audit?
f) Does any salary hike from last h1b approval to this new h1b petition matter? Can there be hike of around 10 to 15%? The attorney wants to use one of the clauses in h1b petition that indicates ‘continuation of same employment at same location with same employer’. Does salary hike impact this condition?
Note: All (PERM and h1b) of the above is with same employer, same work location.
PERM has to be supported by job advertisements that were given in local newspapers and the records kept by the HR.
So, yes, all this documentation is shared with DOL.
The PERM is for a future job and hence, your H1B job duties can differ with PERM.
The specialty occupation criteria is pretty strict these days and the absence of bachelor degree requirement in job description is a matter of concern.
Can I share with you through email or private chat the images of the PERM page that has job duties/title and also the h1b petition that has special requirements, education, job duties etc?? This will help me to get your expert opinion
Thanks Anil. I cross checked the documentation and bachelors is there.
To get more clarity on this process, I put all main points in an image and attaching here. Please maximize screen to like 200% to see image completely.
My question is on the highlighted lines in the attached image,
RELATED Field in Minimum Degree requirement section,
(2). The word equivalent within About beneficiary 3) and Other highlighted lines…
Also as far as specific job duties, do they look fine or vague?
Attorney mentioned that the current job duties should vary than PERM and he has asked to identify by percentage?
So question is should it vary 100% or like 70% or 20%. Does this matter here at all?
I am thinking if the job duties of h1b petition should like 70% different than PERM. This is another question bothering me and need your inputs.
Does Job duties of h1b petition mimic PERM? I guess Not.
So then can it vary more than 50% compared to PERM?
Attorney wants to know this.
Another question: If other resources (from same location & office) have 50% or more of the proposed job duties will they be considered as equivalent resource to this position?
The equivalent position should have 80-100% of job duties as same to prove that there are other people hired with same job description in same category.
PERM is for future job and the job description can vary. There is no fixed percentage of variance as far as I know. The safest option is to keep the job duties as close as possible to the PERM.
Main point is that h1b job duties should vary more than 50% than PERM. The attorney explained with some reasons and it is mandatory now as per him.
Question now is perm was approved with soc code of 15-1199 and the last h1b also had same soc code.
As new petition should vary more than 50% in job duties and it should be within lateral change.
So with upcoming h1b petition, can soc code be still 15-1199 and be more than 50% variance? I am getting confused here. I guess we can have a different soc code for new h1b petition, but it should be a lateral change.
I suggest to follow your attorney’s advice here. It is not possible to give you a concrete answer here as we do not know each and every detail for your case.
Just keep in mind that SOC code does not matter much these days. You will have to prove that your job is a specialty occupation and there are no american workers available for that job profile.
The job description should pass the specialty occupation criteria and you should be able to show example of similar job positions in similar companies posted in newspapers or online.
The job description variance that your attorney is talking about is to make sure that USCIS stays convinced about specialty occupation criteria for your current profile.
