For Physicians under the Conrad 30 Waiver Program

WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today that starting Monday, June 26, the agency will resume premium processing for all H-1B petitions filed for medical doctors under the Conrad 30 Waiver program, as well as interested government agency waivers. The Conrad 30 program allows certain medical doctors to stay in the United States on a temporary visa after completing their medical training to work in rural and urban areas that have shortage of physicians.

“This program improves health care access for Americans living in underserved areas, and we are pleased to resume premium processing for these petitions,” said USCIS Acting Director James McCament.

Starting June 26, eligible petitioners for medical doctors seeking H-1B status under the Conrad 30 program, or through an interested government agency waiver, can file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. Form I-907 can be filed together with an H-1B petition or separately for a pending H-1B petition.

USCIS plans to resume premium processing of other H-1B petitions as workloads permit. We will make additional announcements with specific details related to when we will begin accepting premium processing for those petitions.

Until then, premium processing remains temporarily suspended for all other H-1B petitions. USCIS will reject any Form I-907 filed for those petitions, and if the petitioner submitted one check combining the Form I-907 and Form I‑129 fees, USCIS will have to reject both forms.

For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit www.uscis.gov.

We serve the following localities: San Diego County including San Diego, Carlsbad, and Escondido; Los Angeles County including Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, Burbank, Hollywood, Van Nuys, Whittier, Woodland Hills, and Long Beach; Santa Clara County including San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale; Alameda County including Oakland, San Leandro, and Berkeley; Sacramento County including Sacramento, Elk Grove, and Folsom; and Orange County including Santa Ana and Anaheim.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has recently adopted a decision, clarifying when an applicant qualifies for the H-1B numerical cap exemption. Currently, USCIS is permitted to approve 65,000 H-1B petitions per year, granting temporary nonimmigrant visas for specialty occupations. In addition to this allotted amount, 20,000 H-1B visas can be approved should they fall under the H-1B numerical cap exemption. Under the exemption, applicants can still qualify for the H-1B visa after meeting certain requirements.

Matter of A-T-Inc Decision

If an applicant for an H-1B visa has obtained a Masters’ degree from an accredited college or university, he or she may apply using their degree as the basis for their H-1B petition. Until recently, there was still some confusion as to when the accreditation of the institute is considered. In the Matter of A-T-Inc, the applicant graduated from a university that received its accreditation some time after the degree had been conferred. The Court confirmed in its opinion that for an individual to qualify for an H-1B exemption based upon a master’s or higher degree, the conferring institution must have qualified as a “United States institution of higher education” at the time the beneficiary’s degree was earned. An institution is deemed qualified when it has been “accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association” or “granted preaccreditation status.” The institute’s accreditation or preaccreditation status will be determined at the time the degree was conferred, not when the petition is undergoing the adjudication process.

Keeping The H-1B Visa Exemption Exclusive

There are two reasons why the Court ruled in this light. First, requiring the school to meet accreditation/ preaccreditation standards ensures the quality of the education necessary to merit a Master’s Cap exemption. It is important to preserve the exclusivity of this exemption to those who have graduated from an institution meeting such high standards. Second, it would be unfair to evaluate the school’s accreditation at the time of adjudication. Applicants could miss out on the opportunity to file under the H-1B exemption if their school has since (the applicant’s degree conferment) lost its accreditation status. In other scenarios, the exemption would no longer be exclusive because it would fail to screen out those who have received higher learning degrees, but had a lower education quality compared to an individual having graduated from an accredited university. For these reasons, the date on the degree and the date the institution received accreditation are critical in determining one’s ability to petition under the H-1B numerical cap exemption.

Checking School Accreditation

There are a few ways to check whether your institution has met accreditation standards. Contact your institution or visit them online to receive more information on its accreditation status. Most of the time schools will have it posted online, but if not try giving the administration office a call. You can also visit the United States Department of Education website where you can use its built-in search option to do further research on your school.

We serve the following localities: San Diego County including San Diego, Carlsbad, and Escondido; Los Angeles County including Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, Burbank, Hollywood, Van Nuys, Whittier, Woodland Hills, and Long Beach; Santa Clara County including San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale; Alameda County including Oakland, San Leandro, and Berkeley; Sacramento County including Sacramento, Elk Grove, and Folsom; and Orange County including Santa Ana and Anaheim.