H1 Visa to USA

It appears that US Immigration Service accepts work experience as meeting requirements for degree?

I am very puzzled by this practice, because isnt it what diploma mills do, they provide diploma based on experience?

Here is an example from a web site of credential evaluation agency:

For Immigration (H1B Visa)
- You have a recognized 4 year University degree: You need a Diploma Equivalency (this evaluation covers a maximum of 4 years of Studies

You do not have a 4 year University Degree but have work experience (3 years of work = 1 year of University) you need a Diploma Equivalency + an Experiential Evaluation.


Anybody knows what the real story here?
Economic presure for cheap laibor?

 

Work Experience for H1B visa

You are right, for many years US Immigrants can supplement or replace their academic studies by qualified work experience, following the "three for one"equivalency rule.

They have to demonstrate, through a credential evaluator, that they had learned the same similar skills as a Bachelor Degree.

Real and documented work experience is valuable band is not linked automatically with "Diploma Mills".

Please have alook at the French VAE Law (Validation des Acquis de l'Expérience which regulates officially the issuance of genuine French "classic" degrees through work experience.

 

limits

But there is a limit on the number of H1B visas that are issued each year. Look for some old threads on the staffed-by-Saint-Regis-professors Academic Credential Assessment Corporation (ACAC). ACAC "does" H1B work experience evaluations too. That doesn't mean that ACAC's customers are able to acquire visas, just that they will obtain documents that look like what is needed to begin the application process without a genuine college degree.

 

Well, INS (or whatever the darn thing is called now) does not award the diploma, it allows one to satisfy their definition of "professional" using college ed, experience or combination thereof. I do not see how this is similar to a "diploma mill".

 

Stanislav maybe my description was not accurate.

But I do see connection between the 2.

This is a USA government agency that states that for purpose of professional recognition 3 years of work experience = to one year university.
Even if degree is not awarded by them - A credential evaluator such as ACAC ( SRU Professors) can provide degree equivalence report based on this analogy.

On one hand we say experience based degrees whit out additional education are milled but we fail to recognize that USIS
US Immigration Service recognizes such equivalence.

Isn't this hypocritical?


learner

 

Re: Re: H1 Visa to USA

I agree with Stanislav.

The US Immigration and Naturalization bureaucrats are telling us that they consider both work experience and formal higher education to be important, and for the purposes of this H-1 provision they will accept suitable amounts of either one, or else a mix of the two.

That's reasonable enough.

The are NOT telling us that if somebody has a suitable amount of one, then they should be given automatic formal certification as having a suitable amount of the other as well. The two aren't the same thing.

 

My point is that USIS is leaving the decision in the hands of credential evaluators.

Some of the credential evaluators don't perform the verification
at the level that would really validate the experience.

I think this should be done in the way that UK professional institutions validate experience.

With proposers, sponsors who are persons of defined responsibilities at previous or current employment place and chartered members that attest to such an experience and the level of it.

As I pointed a report from ACAC will be mostly unverified and grant a person access to H1 visa based on resume that can be completely false.

 

The H1B visas issued by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS) are for "highly-skilled workers." The nature of the work performed by holders of this visa is "highly-skilled" but not necessarily requiring a college degree. The whole degree requirement seems to have been added to mollify Congress and let the American public think that we are bringing in highly-educated, highly-trained foreigners with these long-term, nonimmigrant visas. For example, various specialty chefs are covered by the provisions of the H1B visa program. Their academic background is probably somewhat equivalent to the Culinary Institute of America but their technical skills are nonetheless in short supply. (or so certifies the U.S. Dept. of Labor)

My point is that we should not read too much into the U.S. CIS standards and most certainly not extrapolate their policies with respect to H1B accreditation to conclude that they endorse "work experience for academic credit" or something similar. To answer the original question posed in this thread, "Yes, this is a mechanism for obtaining (relatively) cheap but skilled labor."

 

the runway

IIRC, the the regulations specifically mention "distinguished fashion models" too. That's very sensible, but also amusing.