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.