dismissed EB-1A Case: Arts

DATE: 
OCT 1 7 2012 
IN RE: Petitioner: 
Beneficiary: 
OFFICE: TEXAS SERVICE CENTER 
U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service~ 
Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) 
20 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., MS 2090 
Washington, DC 20529-2090 
U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
FILE: 
PETITION: Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker as an Alien of Extraordinary Ahility Pursuant to 
Section 203(h)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act; 8 U.s.c. § 11S3(h)(1)(A) 
ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: 
INSTRUCTIONS: 
Enclosed please find the decision of the Administrative Appeals Ortiee in your case. All of the documents 
related to this matter have heen returned to the office that originally decided your casco Please he advised that 
any furthcr inquiry that you might have concerning your case must he made to that office. 
Thank you. 
Perry Rhew 
Chief, Administrative Appeals Ollice 
www.uscis.go\' 
Page 2 
DISCUSSION: The employment-based immigrant visa petition was denied by the Director, Texas 
Service Center on March 5, 2012, and is now before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) on appeal. 
The appeal will be rejected. 
The petitioner seeks classification as an employment-based immigrant pursuant to section 203(b)(I)(A) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 U.S.c. § 1153(b)(1)(A), as an alien of extraordinary 
ability in the arts. The director determined that the petitioner "ha[ dJ not met at least three of the ten 
criteria" found at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3) and failed to "establish ... sustained national or international 
acclaim." 
Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, was electronically submitted to U.S. 
Immigration Services on August 19,2011. Part 1 of the Form 1-140 . as 
the petitioner. In Part 8 of Form I-140, under "Petitioner's Signature," counsel signed and certitied the 
petition electronically. Form 1-140 was not signed by the petitioner, as required by regulation, but instead 
by the petitioner's attorney. The only signatures on the form are that of counsel. The AAO notes that the 
regulations do not permit an individual who is not the petitioner to sign Form I-140. 
The regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(a) provides: 
(2) Signature. An applicant or petitioner must sign his or her application or petition. 
However, a parent or legal guardian may sign for a person who is less than 14 years old. A 
legal guardian may sign for a mentally incompetent person. By signing the application or 
petition. the applicant or petitioner, or parent or guardian certifies under penalty of perjury 
that the application or petition, and all evidence submitted with it, either at the time of 
filing or thereafter, is true and correct. Unless otherwise specified in this chapter, an 
acceptable signature on an application or petition that is being filed with the l USCIS] is 
one that is either handwritten or, for applications or petitions filed electronically as 
permitted by the instructions to the form, in electronic format. 
Form 1-140 Instructions state: 
If the petitioner is an individual, then that individual, or that individual's legal guardian if 
he or she is incompetent or under 14 years of age, must personally sign the petition. If the 
petitioner is a corporation or other legal entity, only an individual who is an officer or 
employee of the entity who has knowledge of the facts alleged in the petition, and who has 
authority to sign documents on behalf of the entity, may sign the petition. 
There is no regulatory provision that waives the signature requirement for a petitioner to designate an 
attorney or accredited representative to sign the petition on behalf of the petitioner. In this instance, the 
petition has not been properly filed because the petitioner did not sign the petition. Pursuant to the 
regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(a)(7)(i), an application or petition which is not properly signed shall be 
rejected as improperly filed, and no receipt date can be assigned to an improperly filed petition. While the 
service center did not reject the petition, the AAO is not bound to follow the contradictory decision of a 
Page 3 
service center. Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra v. INS, No. 98-2855, 2000 WL 282785, * 1, *3 (E.D. 
La.), affd, 248 F.3d 1139 (5th Cir. 2001), cert. denied, 122 S.C!. 51 (2001). 
In the present matter, counsel signed Form 1-140 petition both on behalf of the petitioner and as the 
preparer. The signature line on Form 1-140 for the petitioner provides that the petitioner is certifying, 
·'under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America, that this petition and the 
evidence submitted with it are all true and correct." To be valid, 28 U.S.c. § 1746 requires that 
declarations be '·subscribed" by the declarant ·'as true under penalty of perjury." Id. In pertinent parl, 
18 U.S.c. § 1621. which governs liability for perjury under federal law, mandates that: '·Whoevcr in any 
declaration under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, 
willfully subscribes as true any material matter which he docs not believe to be true is guilty of perjury."' 
18 U.s.c. § 1621. 
The probative force of a declaration subscribed under penalty of perjury derives from the signature of the 
declarant; one may not sign a declaration "tor" another. Without the petitioner's actual signature as 
declarant, the declaration is completely robbed of any evidentiary force. See In re Rivera, 342 B.R. 435, 
459 (D. N.J. 20(6); Blumberg v. Gates, No. CV 00-05607, 2003 WL 22002739 (C.O.Cal.) (not selected 
for publication). 
The AAO notes that an entirely separate line exists on Form 1-140 for the signature of the preparer (Part 
9) declaring that the form is "based on all information of which [the preparer has] any knowledge." Thus, 
Form 1-140 petition acknowledges that a preparer who is not the petitioner cannot attest to the contents of 
the petition and supporting evidence. Rather, the preparer may only declare that the information provided 
is all the information of which he or she has knowledge. 
Because the underlying petition was not properly filed with the petitioner's signature as required by the 
regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(a)(2), further action on the petition cannot be pursued, and the appeal must 
be rejected. 
ORDER: The appeal is rejected.