dismissed
EB-1B
dismissed EB-1B Case: Biology
Decision Summary
The appeal was rejected on procedural grounds rather than the merits of the case. It was determined to be improperly filed because it was submitted by the beneficiary's attorney, who lacks legal standing, instead of by the petitioner. Furthermore, the appeal was filed untimely, 35 days after the decision was issued, which is beyond the 33-day deadline for appeals.
Criteria Discussed
Improper Filing (Standing) Untimely Filing
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security 20 Mass. Ave., N.W., Rm. 3000 Washington, DC 20529 U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services PETITION: Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker as Outstanding Professor or Researcher Pursuant to Section 203(b)(l)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. $ 1153(b)(l)(B) ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: SELF-REPRESENTED INSTRUCTIONS: This is the decision of the Administrative Appeals Office in your case. All documents have been returned to the office that originally decided your case. Any further inquiry must be made to that office. \ -\. 1 . 2 Robert P. Wicmann, Ch~ef Administrative Appeals Office DISCUSSION: The Director, California Service Center, denied the employment-based immigrant visa petition, which is now before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) on appeal. The appeal will be rejected. The petitioner lists its type of business as "education." The record reflects that the petitioner is an advanced college prep high school for gifted students. It seeks to classifL the beneficiary as an outstanding professor pursuant to section 203(b)(l)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 U.S.C. 5 1153(b)(l)(B). The petitioner seeks to employ the beneficiary permanently in the United States as a "biology instructor." The director determined that the petitioner had not established that it is a qualifjrlng employer or that the beneficiary is recognized internationally as outstanding in an academic field, as required for classification as an outstanding professor. The director did not request the actual job offer or inquire as to whether the beneficiary's teaching position was a tenure or tenure track position. Section 203(b) of the Act states, in pertinent part, that: (1) Priority Workers. -- Visas shall first be made available . . . to qualified immigrants who are aliens described in any of the following subparagraphs (A) through (C): (B) Outstanding Professors and Researchers. -- An alien is described in this subparagraph if -- (i) the alien is recognized internationally as outstanding in a specific academic area, (ii) the alien has at least 3 years of experience in teaching or research in the academic area, and (iii) the alien seeks to enter the United States -- (I) for a tenured position (or tenure-track osition) within a university or institution of higher educationP to teach in the academic area, (11) for a comparable position with a university or institution of higher education to conduct research in the area, or ' See 20 U.S.C. 4 1001 for Congress' definition of an "institution of higher education." (III) for a comparable position to conduct research in the area with a department, division, or institute of a private employer, if the department, division, or institute employs at least 3 persons full-time in research activities and has achieved documented accomplishments in an academic field. The regulation at 8 C.F.R. &j 103.3(a)(l)(iii) states, in pertinent part: (B) Meaning of afected party. For purposes of this section and sections 103.4 and 103.5 of this part, affectedparty (in addition to the Service) means the person or entity with legal standing in a proceeding. It does not include the beneficiary of a visa petition. The regulation at 8 C.F.R. 9 103.3(a)(2)(v) states: Improperlyfiled appeal -- (A) Appealfiled by person or entity not entitled to file it -- (I) Rejection without re@nd offiling fee. An appeal filed by a person or entity not entitled to file it must be rejected as improperly filed. In such a case, any filing fee the Service has accepted will not be refunded. The appeal has not been filed by the petitioner, nor by any entity with legal standing in the proceeding, but rather by the beneficiary's attorney. Therefore, the appeal has not been properly filed, and must be rejected. Furthermore, even if the beneficiary's counsel also represented the petitioner, not apparent in this matter, the appeal would be rejected as untimely filed. In order to properly file an appeal, the regulation at 8 C.F.R. 4 103.3(a)(2)(i) provides that the affected party must file the complete appeal with the office where the unfavorable decision being appealed was made within 30 days of service of the unfavorable decision. If the decision was mailed, the appeal must be filed within 33 days. See 8 C.F.R. 5 103.5a(b). The record indicates that the director issued the decision on June 6, 2006. The director advised that any appeal must be filed "with this office" and properly gave notice to the petitioner that it had 33 days to file the appeal. In addition, the regulation at 8 C.F.R. 3 103.2(a)(l) provides that all appeals must be filed in accordance with the instructions on the form, including the place of filing. The instructions to the Form I-290F.3, Notice of Appeal to the Administrative Appeals Office, provide that appeals must be filed with the office that issued the unfavorable decision. The first numbered instruction emphasizes that appeals should not be sent directly to the AAO. Although the beneficiary's counsel dated the appeal June 30, 2006, the appeal was initially improperly filed with the AAO, not the office that made the unfavorable decision being appealed. The director received the appeal on July 11,2006, a Tuesday, 35 days after the decision was issued. Accordingly, the appeal was untimely filed. As the appeal was untimely filed, the appeal must be rejected. ORDER: The appeal is rejected.
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