elaine1518
Registered Users (C)
Folks,
I finally received the "Intent to Deny" letter last week from Philadelphia BEC. The certifying officer was Barbara. I've worked diligently with my attorney for the past several days trying to fix the situation. We've come up with some ideas on the rebuttal letter and additional materials. I would very very much like to hear from members on this forum on whether the following actions are smart or stupid:
Finding #1: Salary too low.
Action: Refile 750 and raise promised salary level to 100% prevailing wage
Finding #2: Unduly restrictive job requirements - Requirements tailored to alien
Background: My original job ad requires minimum of M.S. degree and 1 year of experience in the job offered. DOL doesn't seem to have any problem with that. But the special requirements had things like MS Office, Oracle SQL Server, VBA, Windows NT, etc. Other than MS Office, my job doesn't really require knowledge in other applications listed, even though having those skills would be a plus. DOL thinks these special requirements are tailored to my qualifications. They suggest that I either find a third-party professional expert in my industry to write an affidavit confirming that these special requirements are indeed out of business necessity, or remove the special requirements all together.
Action: We are leaning towards removing all the special requirements other than MS Office. It's pretty obvious that Office skills are needed and I don't think we need additional documentation to prove that. Our initial round of recruitment four years ago only generated one application and that person was declined an interview because he only had a Bachelor's degree, so removing the special requirements wouldn't automatically make that person qualified again. The only potential problem is DOL may ask us to recruit again. I'm not sure what the outcomes would be if we were to re-advertise nowadays.
Finding #3: Minimum Job Requirements
Background: As I mentioned earlier, my job ad stated minimum qualitifications as being a M.S. Degree and 1 year of experience in the job offered. DOL claimes that my 750 didn't reflect that I had had one year experience in the job offered at the time of hire. "The alien apparently gained the required experience while working for the employer in the job to be certified. It is therefore held that petitioner provided the alien with the training or experience necessary to qualify for the position and that the requirements shown do not represent employer's actual minimum requirements for the job." I have in fact worked full-time at two companies for a total length of 1.5 years prior to the filing. But it's not obvious what the connections are between my previous job experience and the job offered.
Action: I have asked my previous employers to write employment verification letters and try to describe as much as possible my experience in the areas that are even just remotely associated with my current job. Even with these letters, I still can't prove that I had experience in the particular industry I'm currently in. Does graduate school training experience count as "job experience" here? Do have have to demonstrate experience in the particular industry if this industry is mentioned in the job duties section of 750?
Please, please help me!
I finally received the "Intent to Deny" letter last week from Philadelphia BEC. The certifying officer was Barbara. I've worked diligently with my attorney for the past several days trying to fix the situation. We've come up with some ideas on the rebuttal letter and additional materials. I would very very much like to hear from members on this forum on whether the following actions are smart or stupid:
Finding #1: Salary too low.
Action: Refile 750 and raise promised salary level to 100% prevailing wage
Finding #2: Unduly restrictive job requirements - Requirements tailored to alien
Background: My original job ad requires minimum of M.S. degree and 1 year of experience in the job offered. DOL doesn't seem to have any problem with that. But the special requirements had things like MS Office, Oracle SQL Server, VBA, Windows NT, etc. Other than MS Office, my job doesn't really require knowledge in other applications listed, even though having those skills would be a plus. DOL thinks these special requirements are tailored to my qualifications. They suggest that I either find a third-party professional expert in my industry to write an affidavit confirming that these special requirements are indeed out of business necessity, or remove the special requirements all together.
Action: We are leaning towards removing all the special requirements other than MS Office. It's pretty obvious that Office skills are needed and I don't think we need additional documentation to prove that. Our initial round of recruitment four years ago only generated one application and that person was declined an interview because he only had a Bachelor's degree, so removing the special requirements wouldn't automatically make that person qualified again. The only potential problem is DOL may ask us to recruit again. I'm not sure what the outcomes would be if we were to re-advertise nowadays.
Finding #3: Minimum Job Requirements
Background: As I mentioned earlier, my job ad stated minimum qualitifications as being a M.S. Degree and 1 year of experience in the job offered. DOL claimes that my 750 didn't reflect that I had had one year experience in the job offered at the time of hire. "The alien apparently gained the required experience while working for the employer in the job to be certified. It is therefore held that petitioner provided the alien with the training or experience necessary to qualify for the position and that the requirements shown do not represent employer's actual minimum requirements for the job." I have in fact worked full-time at two companies for a total length of 1.5 years prior to the filing. But it's not obvious what the connections are between my previous job experience and the job offered.
Action: I have asked my previous employers to write employment verification letters and try to describe as much as possible my experience in the areas that are even just remotely associated with my current job. Even with these letters, I still can't prove that I had experience in the particular industry I'm currently in. Does graduate school training experience count as "job experience" here? Do have have to demonstrate experience in the particular industry if this industry is mentioned in the job duties section of 750?
Please, please help me!
