11/19/2015 (PRESS RELEASE JET) -- More and more RFE’s and Denials are issued by The US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) every year for educational reasons. This is because candidates with degrees from abroad are sending in their educational documents without an evaluation of their credentials to show the value of their degrees in terms of US academic standards. Even when candidates DO send in evaluations along with their educational documents, oftentimes they will still receive an RFE or Denial because the evaluation was inaccurate, or the evaluator wrote the right evaluation for the wrong Visa. The reality is, if your degree is from anywhere besides the United States, you need a credential evaluation, and you need to find the right evaluator for your education situation AND for your particular Visa.
There are plenty of good credential evaluation agencies that are NOT a good fit for writing an evaluation to fit the requirements for your Visa. This is because USCIS trends and requirements change and vary from Visa to Visa. The right evaluation agency for you will be comfortable to talk to, easy to work with, affordable, and knowledgeable about both international education AND current USCIS trends and particular Visa requirements. Career Consulting International (CCI) http://www.TheDegreePeople.com/ is a leading credential evaluation agency that works from a strong and evolving understanding of international education as well as federal case law and USCIS trends. CCI specializes in difficult cases with the highest rate of approvals for H1B and EB2 RFE’s and Denials, as well as excellent success for three-year degrees. This is because international education experts who know how to thoroughly research your case are on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every single day of the year.
How do you know if you’ve found the right credential evaluation agency? Here are five things to keep in mind:
1. Are they easy to reach?
If a credential evaluation agency makes it hard for you to work with them, don’t work with them. An agency that is easy to work with is what you want. This means when you call, they answer. When you text or email, they respond. Your day-to-day interactions with the right credential evaluation agency should make you feel taken care of. This is a sign of impeccable customer service.
How does this feel? A CCI customer explains, “I am very much pleased with your courteous and professional service – the very best I have ever seen. You are extremely professional at what you do and I have felt very comfortable about how your company responded to my needs on a daily basis.”
Being easy to reach also means that it is easy to reach their past clients. A good evaluation agency will give you easy access to references and recommendations. If an agency makes it hard for you to access their past customers for recommendations, it means they have something to hide. Look elsewhere. The credential evaluation agency you want is forthcoming.
2. Did they answer ALL of your questions to your comfort and satisfaction?
Petitioning for a work Visa is a long, convoluted process. Even immigration attorneys can run into trouble when dealing with issues of international education. A good evaluation agency will answer all of the questions you, your employer, and your attorney have regarding foreign equivalencies and what you have to do to prove yours. If you are seeking out a credential evaluation agency after receiving an RFE, this is especially the case. RFE’s and Denials are stressful and leave even the best attorneys stumped. The right evaluator will help you through this seeming brick wall.
“Even my attorney was not able to give such sound advice and professional advice,” says a CCI customer who called in for a consult on his RFE Two weeks after he submitted his new credential evaluation USCIS approved his Visa. “After your reply, I felt very happy and got the answers for all the questions I had on my mind.”
The right credential evaluation agency will guide you through the process of applying for your Visa or responding to your RFE or Denial.
3. Are they fairly priced?
Credential evaluation is NOT a you-get-what-you-pay-for situation. In fact, if a credential evaluation agency feels like a bargain AND you feel comfortable talking to them, go for it. This is because an agency honestly dedicated to customer service and excellence is not going to waste your time OR your money. A credential evaluation agency that does not charge extra fees is making it easy for you to work with them. They also understand the high cost of petitioning for a Visa and moving your entire life to a different country. On the other hand, there are times you need an expert opinion letter to get that approval. Don't skimp there. Expert letters alone can go as high as $1200, but they do not need to be that high to get the job done.
If an agency charges you high prices and you stumble across hidden costs on down the line, look elsewhere. You should know exactly what the total fees are and what you will be getting before you order. They are trying to take your money, not provide you a service. The right credential evaluation agency will work hard for you without overcharging you.
“I couldn’t ask for a more dedicated and willing group of individuals working towards my goals,” says a CCI customer about her experience. “Their low price guarantee is for real, no gimmicks or hidden costs. The value is superb.”
Another customer reports, “I especially also thank you for going out of your way even after the evaluation was done, to support and provide me with additional supporting documents at NO additional cost. The documents helped strengthen my case and were a big help in getting me the required license.”
4. Do they have rush delivery options?
A credential evaluation agency that does not offer affordable rush delivery OPTIONS – this means more than one option – does not understand the process and timeframe of petitioning for your Visa or responding to your RFE or Denial. Visa candidates are crunched for time and can experience hang-ups and setbacks in collecting the correct documents, interfacing with the government bureaucracies of both the US and their country of origin, as well as contacting and working with certification and licensing boards, and alma maters. In fact, a good evaluation agency will offer rush options AND be able to work from emailed copies of your education documents to save you time and give you peace of mind.
Quality service does not need to be sacrificed for speed. A good evaluation agency should hold your hand and walk you through the evaluation with as much speed and efficiency as your situation requires.
5. Do they ask about your job offer title or the education requirement on the PERM?
This is a big one because if you tell an evaluation agency that you need an evaluation for an H1B or EB2 visa and they don’t ask about your job offer they don’t know about your particular Visa requirements. If a credential evaluation agency does not ask about your job, it means they don’t know how to write the evaluation you need to get your Visa approved. They may be able to write an accurate evaluation, but they will likely write the wrong one. USCIS trends and requirements change and vary between Visas. For example, H1B Visa candidates can combine education sources to prove the equivalency of the degree they need to qualify for their Visa. This is not the case for EB2 Visa candidates. The candidate’s degree specialization must also be an exact fit for his or her field of employ to meet USCIS requirements – this requirement being a recent change in the past six years. The correct evaluation can be written for both of these situations, but if the evaluation agency does not ask about your job they cannot know what they need to write.
An agency that asks about your job and your Visa, and looks at your education before asking you to pay a dime is the agency you want to write your evaluation. Agencies that keep up-to-date with USCIS trends and requirements and understand what needs to be shown and how to get your particular Visa approved will write detailed, well-researched evaluations to show the value of your education backed by federal case law, career and graduate program acceptance standards, and USCIS precedent decisions about equivalencies. Writing a well-researched and detailed evaluation is necessary to clearly show the academic content as well as the stages of education that comprise any given degree because in matters of international education it is rarely obvious on face value.
Many evaluation agencies will write an evaluation based on the face value of the customer’s education. Customers don’t get an accurate evaluation of the true academic value of their education when it is simply written based on face value because educational systems vastly vary across borders and across cultures. A CCI customer who had worked with two agencies before had this experience with CCI:
“You don’t see things at face value but do your research and make sure that your customers get their certificates interpreted correctly. I did my evaluations through two other agencies before you and both of them gave me results of my certificates at face value (and different from one another), and never did good research to find out their real value; but with CCI it was totally different.”
An agency that streamlines your Visa petition or RFE or Denial response process is the one that you want to work with. They should be easy to reach, easy to work with, affordable, responsive and fast without sacrificing customer service, and knowledgeable about international education as well as USCIS requirements and trends. The right agency has a deep understanding of the differences between Visas and the requirements that go with them. Ask yourself these five questions when selecting the right agency to write your evaluation and you will find one that works best for you.
For a free consultation on your foreign education, or your RFE or Denial, visit CCI online at http://cciFree.com
Media Contact
Company Name: Career Consulting International
Name: Sheila Danzig
Phone: (954) 445-0107
Email Address: sheila@TheDegreePeople.com
Website: www.TheDegreePeople.com