L1 individual RFE for SOW

[prao81]

Hi,

My company had applied for my L1B individual, post which I have received the usual set of questions as a RFE.

All the questions relate to specialized knowledge etc as usual.Additionally the RFE also requests for the SOW document.
From some of the denial cases in my company , I have understood that USCIS wants the SOW document to verify if the specialized duties are be as per the SOW and it's not simply a labor for hire kind of work.

My questions are
1) Since the SOW is a confidential document , the client is unwilling to share it .Are there any alternatives to the SOW document?
2) In any case SOW documents do not document detailed activities and are only at a high level.So how does this really help

Please let me know, since SOW document is a must is what I understand from prior L1 individual visa rejections in my company
.

[rvisak]

You could use a client letter - there has to be some sort of memorandum of understanding between your firm and the client on what the project is, and at a high level what duties will be performed. For ex if it says that your firm will provide Design, development & testing capabilities and your petition mentioned that you will be part of the design team (say) it all gels in

You are right that the SOW won't be reflective of your specialized knowledge, but my understanding is that the USCIS wants to ensure for L1B's that (a) it is not a staff aug kind of position and (b) the company has not cooked up a project to procure a visa when no need exists

[chandan_maddanna]

I had a similar situation for my l1b petition. even though my organization participates in BEP and mine was under blanket petition, those things did not help in anyways, and they requested for evidence

among other things, the sow that we sent was modified. meaning we removed contacts, and other confidential things. also we marked a statement saying something like

"this document is propreitery and confidential, and only submitted for evidence on request. "

pretty much technical things involved were retained in the document so that they could see the complexity details and understand the circumstances.

and they considered it and my petition got approved.

hope it helps.

kind Regards,

chandan

[prao81]

L1 individual RFE for SOW

Will client letter mentioning the project and roles and responsibilities be good enough? SOW is confidential and client might not be willing to share it.Also we will be sharing invoice copies of the project for a couple of phases of the project. So my question is will client letter work instead of SOW

[rvisak]

won't your company have their copy of the SOW ? Since it is a L1 I am assuming your firm has complete responsibility for the delivery of the application & are not just placing you in staff aug (which is illegal btw on L1B)...what does your immigration team have to say?

[prao81]

L1 individual RFE for SOW

Just found that the project doesn't have an SOW. But we have the combination of proposal + purchase order which constitutes something similar to the SOW, but the problem is the PO is valid till only Jan end , we are expecting a new PO but that will come only in Jan end.

Have to respond to RFE before that . Any suggestion's on what to do.

1. Submit proposal + PO copies and mention that project will get extended every 6 months.
2. Do not submit these documents

Please let me know.

[prao81]

L1 individual RFE for SOW

Received the RFE copy, to prove that the position is not labor for hire USCIS has asked for one or more of below evidences
1.Petitioners products or services and what kind of activities and why they are not labor for hire
2.Proof of purchase - copies of purchase order and invoices for the project
3.Contracts - SOW, Work orders or service agreement copies
4.Milestone plan
5. Press Releases
6.Number of workers at site
7.Org Chart at site.

My question is related to points 2 and 3 , we dont have SOW for the project , we just have the proposal document , PO and invoice copies for a couple of milestones . But issue is PO is valid only till Jan end and renewal is not expected until beginning of feb and we have to respond to the RFE before that. Similar cases from my company have been approved , where PO validity is nearing the end at time of submission.

Any suggestions on what I should submit to get my case approved

[rvisak]

I think that is fine - as you have said the main aim is to ensure you are not being put in a dummy project as staff aug....you can present the current PO and in the justification letter explain that this will be renewed in Feb

Also check if you have a MSA(Master Service Agreement) which would in general be talking abt the contract between your company & client - if you can furnish it that would be great...either ways I think with the docs you have you are covered,you just need to assure USCIS its a valid position

[prao81]

L1 individual RFE for SOW

Thnx rvisak. We have the MSA , but even that is up for renewal since its year end now .And that takes easily atleast a couple of months to get renewed. Both client and company a bit slow in getting such things renewed.

In any case , will go ahead as you mentioned and mention that the new PO for the next phase of the project will get generated in Feb .

[rvisak]

that should be ok...thinking out aloud; generally SOW's would be for 1or 2 quarters at a time while petitions are filed for 3 yrs so am sure the USCIS will not be hung up on this

[Venkatesh23]

L1 Amendment RFE - Urgent

Hi,

I recevied the below RFE questions from USCIS. Can you please help me or advice me what exactly need to be answer. I have only one day left and what ever answer I gave the attorney's are not satisfied with it.

1.) Please explain here why the activities Mr. Nagarajan’s is performing are not simply labor for hire.
2.) Petitioner's Product or Service: Explain, in more detail (and in layman's terms), exactly what is the equipment, system, product, technique, research, service; and/or processes or procedures you will provide to CitiCards and why the activities the beneficiary will perform are not just labor for hire and/or that the beneficiary will be primarily supervised and controlled by your organization;

[Venkatesh23]

L1 B amendment

Dear Prao,

can you please tell me what answer you gave for the below question

Petitioners products or services and what kind of activities and why they are not labor for hire