We get many questions about H-1 exempt petitions.  The starting point is to ask if the petitioner is a:

1) a University; or

2) a non-profit that is “related” to a University; or

3) A Non-Profit research organization; or

4) A Non-Profit government research organization

The legal issue is what constitutes “related”.   The relevant USCIS Memorandum suggest that the two related organizations must either be co-owned or share ownership or management teams.  In practice, however, the law firm has seen a more lenient interpretation of the regulation. We have had many cases approved in situations where the petitioner has a formal affiliation agreement that delegates some of the clinical training to the petitioner or allows a co-mingling of employees between the petitioner and the research or university.