What’s wrong with H-1B and specialty occupation?

The current issues of specialty occupation and how it is occupying the USCIS is visible in the Requests for evidence, Notice of Intent to Deny and denials using this as the reason for the adverse decision.

What is this specialty occupation? Specialty occupation is what qualifies a company to petition for H1B status/visa for its specialized worker(s). Under INA § 214 (i)(1), specialty occupation is defined as a theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and which requires an attainment of a bachelor’s or higher degree in a specific specialty, or its equivalent, as a minimum, for entry in to the occupation in the United States.  Last year, Computer Programmers lost their status as “specialty” and recently, Network and Computer Systems Administrators went on the chopping block. The occupation of a Systems Analyst is not welcome into the specialized field, we understand. Something one cannot learn, till the USCIS throws out every argument establishing the complexity of these positions and holds its decision and denies it. Arguments about the complexity of the position, employer common practices, industry standards, and the department of labor’s statistics are being eschewed with these random USCIS negative decisions.

Employer and attorneys may have to file suits against the government to look at the arbitrariness or give up these positions is our current thought.  The best advise that I can provide is to file for engineering occupations- the developer positions, network architects or find complex positions, when filing H1B. The way to avoid specialty occupation RFEs is to argue these upfront in the filing of the H1B and keep away from the prejudiced titles.