Qualifying the Specific Position to Be Filled by the Alien

When qualification is based on an alien filling a position in a  specialty occupation, the position to be filled by the alien must require the services of someone who has the credentials for that specialty occupation.

Positions clearly in specialty occupations. The requirement that an H-1B position be in a specialty occupation can be easily met in most cases because the position involved has already clearly been held by the INS to be in a profession (which is the definitional equivalent of a specialty occupation). In those cases, the employer needs to do little to document the nature of the position. This rule of thumb applies to the following positions:

There are gray areas around the fringes of some of these occupational titles. For example, there may be "teaching" "position in some private schools or day-care settings that are not documented as specialty occupations. If the settings is marginally related to the traditional school environment, submission of some documentation that professional teaching credentials are  required would be a  good idea. Some common gray areas: science and medical positions involving technicians, law positions in which the aliens is not admitted to the U.S. bar, computer positions not involving software or systems design, such as entry level programming positions.

The employer must do more than simply name a job title from the above list and expect that classification as a specialty occupation will follow. The employer must state a degree requirement and also give a description of  job  duties that make it clear that the job title fits the actual duties to be performed by the aliens. As long as the job duties described by the employer fits the job title of  a specialty occupation, however, the employer in these cases should not need to submit any supporting documentation regarding the nature of the position.