dismissed EB-1C Case: Corporate Development
Decision Summary
The appeal was dismissed because the petitioner failed to establish the existence of a qualifying relationship between the U.S. and foreign entities. The director found discrepancies related to the petitioner's capitalization and stock ownership, and on review, the AAO concluded that the petitioner did not provide sufficient evidence, such as stock ledgers, corporate bylaws, or proof of compensation for all issued shares, to resolve the inconsistencies and prove the foreign entity's ownership and control.
Criteria Discussed
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security 20 Mass. Ave., N.W., Rm. A3042 FILE: WAC 03 070 5 1945 office: CALIFORNIA SERVICE CENTER Date: PETITION: Immigrant Petition for as a Multinational Executive or Manager Pursuant to Section 203(b)(l)(C) and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 5 1153(b)(l)(C) ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: ~ INSTRUCTIONS : 1 This is the decision of the Administrative Office in your case. All documents have been returned to the office that originally decided your inquiry must be made to that office. ~6bert P. Wiemann, Director / ;~,~drninistrative Appeals Office i/ WAC 03 070 5 1945 Page 2 DISCUSSION: The preference visa petiti was denied by the Director, California Service Center. The matter is now before the Administrative Office (AAO) on appeal. The appeal will be dismissed. The petitioner filed this immigrant seeking to employ the beneficiary as its vice-president of corporate development and planning. ingly, the petitioner endeavors to classify the beneficiary as an employment-based multinational manager pursuant to section 203(b)(l)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 (b)(l)(C). The petitioner is a corporation organized in the State of California that is operating as The director denied the petition concludin that the petitioner did not demonstrate the existence of a qualifying relationship between the organization and the foreign entity as required in section 203(b)(l)(C) of the Act. Counsel subsequently filed an appeal. The d ector declined to treat the appeal as a motion and forwarded it to the AAO for review. On appeal, counsel states that the record contained a discrepancy in the amount of shares issued and the financial informatilon r lating to the petitioner's capitalization. Counsel submits a brief and additional documentary evidence in supp rt of the claim that a qualifying relationship exists between the two organizations. I Section 203(b) of the Act states, in pertinent dart: (1) Priority Workers. -- Visas shall be made available . . . to qualified immigrants who are aliens described in any of the subparagraphs (A) through (C): (C) Certain Multinatio~ial and Managers. - An alien is described in this subparagrap in the 3 years preceding the time of the alien's application and admission into the United States under this for at least 1 year by a firm or or subsidiary thereof thereof in a The language of the statute is specific in li this provision to only those executives or managers who have previously worked for the firm, or other legal entity, or an affiliate or subsidiary of that entity, and are coming to the United for the same entity, or its affiliate or subsidiary. A United States employer may file a petiti on Form 1-140 for classification of an alien under section 203(b)(l)(C) of the Act as a multinational e or manager. No labor certification is required for his classification. The prospective employer States must furnish a job offer in the form of a statement which indicates that the alien is in the United States in a managerial or executive capacity. Such a statement must clearly to be performed by the alien. WAC 03 070 51945 Page 3 The issue in this proceeding is whether a alifying relationship exists between the foreign entity and the United States entity as required in section of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 5 1153(b)(l)(C). The regulation at 8 C.F.R. 3 204.5Q)(2) Afiliate means: 1 (B) One of two legal entities owned and controlled by the same group of individuals, each individual owning and controlling ap roximately the same share or proportion of each entity; P (A) One of two subsidiaries both of individual; Subsidiary means a firm, or other legal entity of which a parent owns, directly or indirectly, more than half of the and controls the entity; or owns, directly or indirectly, half of the entity and controls or owns, directly or indirectly, 50 percent of a 50-50 joint venture and has equal veto power over the entity; or owns, directly or indirectly, less than half of fact controls the entity. which are owned and controlled by the same parent or The petitioner filed the immigrant petition December 30, 2002. In an attached letter from the petitioner, dated October 22,2002, the president of organization noted that the foreign entity is the parent of the United States corporation. The that "[tlhe [appended] documents include evidence of the required linkage between the including the direct cash investment of $1,000,000 of Taiwan corporate shares." The petitioner further explained that the petitioning As evidence of a qualifying relationship, submitted a list of thirteen owners of the petitioner's 10,000,000 shares of issued stock, entity as the owner of 52% of the corporation, or 5,200,000 shares. The petitioner the petitioner's board of directors authorizing the issuance of the 10,000,000 shares Receipt" acknowledging funds paid either by wire transfer or check from the owner's respective shares. The petitioner also submitted stock certificates In addition, the petitioner submitted two wire transfer receipts for funds petitioning organization on October 6, 2000 and October 10,2000. The director issued a request for evidence on ay 12,2003, yet did not request additional evidence relating to the issue of qualifying relationship. M In a decision dated January 30,2004, the dire determined that the petitioner did not establish the existence of a qualifying relationship between the and United States entities. The director outlined the ownership of the petitioner's stock by the shareholders, noting that the record indicated that the petitioner received a total of $1,000,000 in for the 10,000,000 issued shares of stock. The director noted however, that the petitioner's 2001 tax return reflected an increase in capital at the end of the year to $1,725,000. The an additional increase in capital reflected on the petitioner's 2002 corporate The director stated "it appears that the petitioner has sold a total of no evidence of this transaction." The director WAC 03 070 5 1945 Page 4 determined that the petitioner had failed to clarify the inconsistencies related to a qualifying relationship. Accordingly, the In an appeal filed on March 2, 2004, coun states "[tlhere was an alleged discrepancy between the stated shares issued, and capitalization in appearing on the corporate tax returns of the Employing Organization/U.S. office." Counsel e t additional shares were issued by the petitioning organization in the years 2001 and 2002 to the a1 ng stockholders, and notes that each shareholder's ownership interest remained the same followin a1 issuance of stock. Counsel states that the foreign entity continues to own 52% of the pe ization, while the remaining 48% is owned by twelve individual shareholders. Counsel '100% of the increases to capital . . . were in the form of cash wire transfers directly fro ompany to the corporate accounts of [the petitioning organization], and from no other 1 claims that the director's denial therefore "identifies an alleged discrepancy where no re ists." Counsel submits stock certificates reflecting the increase in capital stock during 20 Counsel also claims that the petitioner was because the director did not address the issue of qualifying relationship in his request for evi states that it is a long-standing Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) policy to issue a relating to issues of eligibility. On review, the petitioner has not the existence of a qualifying relationship between the foreign and United States entities as 203(b)(l)(C) of the Act. The regulation and case law confirm that o and control are the factors that must be examined in determining whether a qualifying relatioinshi United States and foreign entities for purposes of this visa classification. Matter of Church 19 I&N Dec. 593 (BIA 1988); see also Matter of Siemens Medical Systems, Inc., 19 Matter of Hughes, 18 I&N Dec. 289 (Comm. 1982). In context of this visa the direct or indirect legal right of possession of the assets of an entity control; control means the direct or indirect legal right and authority to and operations of an entity. Matter of Church Scientology As general evidence of a petitioner's claimed ualifying relationship, stock certificates alone are not sufficient evidence to determine whether a stockholde maintains ownership and control of a corporate entity. The corporate stock certificate ledger, stock certi icate registry, corporate bylaws, and the minutes of relevant annual shareholder meetings must also be exa 'ned to determine the total number of shares issued, the exact number issued to the shareholder, and the ubsequent percentage ownership and its effect on corporate control. Additionally, a petitioning company ust disclose all agreements relating to the voting of shares, the distribution of profit, the management and di ection of the subsidiary, and any other factor affecting actual control of the entity. See Matter of Siemen Medical Systems, Inc., supra. Without full disclosure of all relevant documents, CIS is unable to detennin I the elements of ownership and control. The instant record contains several discrepanc es pertaining to the claimed parent-subsidiary relationship. As noted previously, in order to establish o nership the petitioner should provide documentation of consideration given by the shareholders in xchange for stock. Here, the petitioner submitted two wire transfer statements and untranslated financia documents, which the petitioner claimed is evidence of the foreign entity's compensation in exchange for 1 the stock owned by all thirteen shareholders. In other words, WAC 03 070 5 1945 Page 5 Additionally, despite counsel's assertions ppeal, counsel has not furnished evidence that the petitioner received compensation for the subsequent ce of 12,250,000 shares of stock. Again, counsel states that the additional $1,225,000 increase in capi paid directly through wire transfers from the foreign entity. However, the financial documentation su by counsel, which includes untranslated statements, does not clearly identify the transfer of funds issued in December of 2001 and 2002. While the bank statements reflect deposits made in M d August of 2001 and January, March, April, July, August, September, November, and Decembe t is unclear whether these were made as payment for stock ownership or as funding for the petiti ess operations. Additionally, the cumulative amounts of the wire transfers in 2001 and 2002 repr iency of approximately $30,000 and $60,000, respectively, from the total value of stock issued e o, counsel again claims that the foreign entity furnished the entire amount of consideration for t issuances of stock to all thirteen shareholders, yet there is no documentation identifying an a n the parties that the remaining shareholders would retain ownership of the stock paid for by . Without documentary evidence to support the claim, the assertions of counsel will not s r's burden of proof. The assertions of counsel do not constitute evidence. Matter of ec. 533,534 (BIA 1988); Matter Of Laureano, 19 I&N Dec. 1 (BIA 1983); Matter of R N Dec. 503,506 (BIA 1980). The AAO also notes that because the petitioner failed t lations of the documents, the AAO cannot determine whether the evidence supports See 8 C.F.R. 5 103.2(b)(3). Accordingly, the evidence is not probative and will not b the record indicates that the foreign entity Likewise, the petitioner noted in its Octlober resulted from "the direct cash investment of twelve shareholders did not provide any organization yet continue to be identified as records. There is no documentation in the re furnish the total amount of consideration petitioner has failed to clarify ownership of November 2000. It is incumbent upon independent objective evidence. Any attempt unless the petitioner submits competent objective I&N Dec. 582,591-92 (BIA 1988). Moreover, although counsel explains on the issuance of 12,250,000 shares of stock to the thirteen already existing shareholders in the yea 1 and 2002, there is no indication that these subsequent issuances were authorized by the petit organization. The petitioner's Articles of Incorporation authorizes the petitioning organization to ,000,000 shares of stock. This amount is further confmed in Section 6 of a "Consent" by the petitio rd of directors. However, as a result of the additional stock issued in both 2001 and 2002, the petiti d an aggregate amount of 22,250,000 shares. The record does not contain any supplemental agre the petitioner's board of directors authorizing the issuance of stock beyond the amount approved i of incorporation. It is therefore unclear whether the stock transfers in 2002 are valid. paid the entire amount due as compensation for the stock. 22, 2002 letter that the initial stock purchase in November 2000 $1,000,000 of Taiwan corporate funds." Clearly, the remaining consideration in exchange for stock ownership in the petitioning stockholders on both the stock certificates and the corporate zord evidencing an agreement that the foreign corporation would for the benefit of the twelve shareholders. Consequently, the :he initial 10,000,000 shares of stock issued by the petitioner in the petitioner to resolve any inconsistencies in the record by to explain or reconcile such inconsistencies will not suffice evidence pointing to where the truth lies. Matter of Ho, 19 Furthennore, the stock certificates issued o appeal do not clearly identify ownership in the petitioning organization as the photocopies submitted the record are too dark to identify the issuing corporation. Going on record without supporting tary evidence is not sufficient for purposes of meeting the WAC 03 070 5 1945 Page 6 burden of proof in these proceedings. Matte of Treasure Craft of California, 14 I&N Dec. 190 (Reg. Comm. 1972). r Lastly, counsel contends on appeal that the erred in failing to request further evidence of a qualifying relationship before denying the petition. of the regulation at 8 C.F.R. $ 103.2(b)(8) requires the director to request additional evidence "in where there is no evidence of ineligibility, and initial evidence or eligibility information is is not required to issue a request for further information in every potentially determines that the initial evidence supports a decision of denial, the cited of further documentation. The director did not deny the petition based Furthermore, even if the director had cornmi a procedural error by failing to solicit further evidence, it is not clear what remedy would be appropria the appeal process itself. The petitioner has in fact supplemented the record on appeal, and serve no useful purpose to remand the case simply to afford the petitioner the opportunity with new evidence. Based on the above discussion, the record not demonstrate that the petitioning organization and the foreign entity possess the claimed relationship. The petitioner has therefore failed to establish the existence of a the two organizations as required in section 203(b)(l)(C) of the Act. In visa petition proceedings, the burden of pr ving eligibility for the benefit sought remains entirely with the petitioner. Section 291 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 1361. Here, that burden has not been met. Accordingly, the director's decision will be affirmed and the will be denied. ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 1
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