H1B denied - please advice

[cloudhusky]

Hi,

I got an RFE for my H1B petition and it got denied owing to - "no sufficient evidence of the valid employer-employee relationship". I work for a reputed consulting firm (Big 4) and graduated from a reputed school. I'm currently on OPT and can request to get it extended under STEM. I would like to know -

1. If I get selected in the lottery next year, will my case be scrutinized by USCIS because it was denied this time?
2. What option do I have wrt to the denial - appeal / MTR ? Which would be apt for my case?
3. I heard that appeal can take a long time, if its pending for a long time does that mean I have to wait for its outcome before I can apply next year?

Thanks!

[raghvi]

Hi,

I got an RFE for my H1B petition and it got denied owing to - "no sufficient evidence of the valid employer-employee relationship". I work for a reputed consulting firm (Big 4) and graduated from a reputed school. I'm currently on OPT and can request to get it extended under STEM. I would like to know -

1. If I get selected in the lottery next year, will my case be scrutinized by USCIS because it was denied this time?
2. What option do I have wrt to the denial - appeal / MTR ? Which would be apt for my case?
3. I heard that appeal can take a long time, if its pending for a long time does that mean I have to wait for its outcome before I can apply next year?

Thanks!

When you say you work for a reputed firm, are they your end client? Are you directly on the payroll? If you are a direct employee where does the doubt of valid employer employee come? A big consulting firm must be having a large legal team to look into such issue, what are they saying?

1. Dont think so, each petition is treated independently.
2. One would have to examine the evidences submitted and what was lacking thereof.
3. Yes , MTR can take a year or so. You need not wait for its outcome to apply next year.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[cloudhusky]

@[raghvi], I work directly for the firm. It's one of the biggest IT consulting firms with $20+ billion in revenue. As any other consulting firm, my work requires me to travel to client site. I have no idea why there is no evidence of employer-employee relationship as my company is not willing to give me a copy of the denial notice. I don't know the difference between MTR and appeal, but is it possible to provide further evidence/documents, if I can ask my firm to pursue one of those?

When you say you work for a reputed firm, are they your end client? Are you directly on the payroll? If you are a direct employee where does the doubt of valid employer employee come? A big consulting firm must be having a large legal team to look into such issue, what are they saying?

1. Dont think so, each petition is treated independently.
2. One would have to examine the evidences submitted and what was lacking thereof.
3. Yes , MTR can take a year or so. You need not wait for its outcome to apply next year.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[raghvi]

As you are working for an end client, your employer should have provided evidence of their contract/SOW with the End Client to justify work for you.

If they didnt support much to get the RFE resolved I doubt they are going to support you for the MTR. Something doesnt seem right about this approach of a large company.

This is my opinion not legal advice.