dismissed EB-2 Case: Computer Science

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
In Re: 21581413 
Appeal of Nebraska Service Center Decision 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date: JUL. 8, 2022 
Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Advanced Degree Professional 
The Petitioner, an automotive glass repair and replacement company, seeks to employ the Beneficiary as 
a quality assurance leader. It requests classification of the Beneficiary as a member of the professions 
holding an advanced degree under the second preference immigrant category. Immigration and 
Nationality Act (the Act) section 203(b)(2), 8 U.S.C. § l 153(b)(2). This employment-based "EB-2" 
immigrant classification allows a U.S. employer to sponsor a professional with an advanced degree 
for lawful permanent resident status . 
After the filing's initial grant, the Director of the Nebraska Service Center revoked the petition's 
approval, concluding that the education requirements for the position , as described on the labor 
certification, do not meet the requirements of the requested classification. 
In revocation proceedings, the Petitioner bears the burden of establishing eligibility for the requested 
benefit by a preponderance of evidence. See Matter of Ho, 19 I&N Dec. 582,589 (BIA 1988) (citation 
omitted) (discussing the burden of proof); see also Matter ofChawathe, 25 I&N Dec. 369, 375 (AAO 
2010) (discussing the standard of proof). Upon de nova review , we will dismiss the appeal. 
I. LAW 
A. Employment-Based Immigrant Petition Process 
Employment-based immigration generally follows a three-step process . First, an employer obtains an 
approved labor certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). See section 212(a)(5)(A)(i) 
of the Act, 8 U.S.C . § 1182(a)(5)(A)(i) . By approving the labor certification , the DOL certifies that 
there are insufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available for the offered 
position and that employing a foreign national in the position will not adversely affect the wages and 
working conditions of U.S. workers similarly employed. See section 212(a)(5)(A)(i)(I)-(II) of the 
Act. Second, the employer files an immigrant visa petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services (USCIS). See section 204 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1154. Third, ifUSCIS approves the petition, 
the foreign national may apply for an immigrant visa abroad or, if eligible, adjustment of status in the 
United States. See section 245 of the Act, 8 U.S .C. § 1255. 
Also, "at any time" before a beneficiary obtains lawful permanent residence, USCTS may revoke a 
petition's approval for "good and sufficient cause." Section 205 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1155. If 
supported by a record, the erroneous nature of a petition's approval justifies its revocation. Matter of 
Ho, 19 T&N Dec. at 590. 
USCIS properly issues a notice of intent to revoke (NOIR) a petition's approval if the unexplained 
and unrebutted record at the time of the NOTR's issuance would have warranted the petition's denial. 
Matter of Es time, 19 I&N Dec. 450, 451 (BIA 1987). If a petitioner's NOIR response doesn't resolve 
or rebut alleged revocation grounds, USCIS properly revokes a petition's approval. Id. at 451-52. 
B. Advanced Degree Professional Classification 
A petition for an advanced degree professional must generally be accompanied by a valid, individual 
labor certification. 8 C.F .R. § 204.5(k)( 4)(1 ). The regulations state that to be eligible for the requested 
classification, the job offer portion of the labor certification must demonstrate that the job requires a 
professional holding an advanced degree or the equivalent (emphasis added). 8 C.F.R. 
§ 204.5(k)(4)(i). The regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2) defines "advanced degree" as follows: 
[ a ]ny United States academic or professional degree or a foreign equivalent degree 
above that of baccalaureate. A United States baccalaureate degree or a foreign 
equivalent degree followed by at least five years of progressive experience in the 
specialty shall be considered the equivalent of a master's degree. If a doctoral degree 
is customarily required by the specialty, the alien must have a United States doctorate 
or a foreign equivalent degree. 
If the labor certification allows for less than an advanced degree, the position will not qualify for 
advanced degree professional classification. 
II. ANALYSIS 
For the reasons discussed below, we agree with the Director that the labor certification does not support 
the requested classification of advanced degree professional. 1 
In determining whether the position offered qualifies for advanced degree professional classification, we 
look to the terms of the labor certification. The education, training, experience, and other requirements 
for the proffered position are set forth at Part H of the labor certification. In this case, Part H states that 
the position of quality assurance leader has the following minimum requirements: 
4. Education: Minimum level required: 
4-B. Major field of study: 
5. Is training required for the job opportunity? 
6. Is experience in the job offered required for the job? 
Bachelor's degree 
Computer Science 
No 
Yes 
1 As stated by the Director, "[t]he matter at hand is not whether the beneficiary has met the necessary education and 
experience qualifications required by the ETA 9089 and the immigrant classification, but rather that the education 
requirements for the position are less than the requirements for an advanced degree (see 8 C.F.R. [§] 204.5(k)(2) above)." 
2 
6-A. 
7. 
7-A. 
8. 
9. 
10. 
10-A. 
10-B. 
If Yes, number of months experience required 
Is there an alternate field of study that is acceptable? 
If Yes, specify the major field of study 
Is there an alternate combination of education 
and experience that is acceptable? 
Is a foreign educational equivalent acceptable? 
Is experience in an alternate occupation acceptable? 
If Yes, number of months experience in alternate 
Occupation required 
Identify the job title of the acceptable alternate occupation 
60 months 
Yes 
Computer related degree 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
60 months 
Any computer related occupation 
At Part H, Box 14 (H.14), the Petitioner provided the following additional language regarding the 
"[s ]pecific skills or other requirements:" 
[M]ust have a Bachelor's degree in computer science or computer related degree and 5 
years of overall progressive IT experience, which includes 2 years of experience in the 
skill set listed in the job description. Bachelor's equivalency may be met by a combination 
of degrees (emphasis added). 
In order to determine what a job opportunity requires, we must examine "the language of the labor 
certification job requirements." Madany v. Smith, 696 F.2d 1008, 1015 (D.C. Cir. 1983). USCIS must 
examine the certified job offer exactly as completed by the prospective employer. See Rosedale Linden 
Park Company v. Smith, 595 F. Supp. 829, 833 (D.D.C. 1984). Our interpretation of the job's 
requirements must involve reading and applying the plain language of the labor certification form. Id. at 
834. Moreover, we read the labor certification as a whole to determine its requirements. "The [labor 
certification] is a legal document and as such the document must be considered in its entirety." Matter of 
Symbioun Techs., Inc., 2010-PER-10422, 2011 WL 5126284 (BALCA Oct. 24, 2011) (finding that a 
"comprehensive reading of all of Section H" of the labor certification clarified an employer's minimum 
job requirements). 2 
As defined above, the equivalent of an advanced degree, if followed by at least five years of 
progressive experience, is "[a] United States baccalaureate degree or a foreign equivalent degree." 
8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2) (emphasis added); see also Final Rule for Immigrant Visa Petitions, 56 Fed. 
Reg. 60897, 60900 (Nov. 29, 1991) (stating that "both the Act and its legislative history make clear 
that, in order to ... have experience equating to an advanced degree under the second [preference 
immigrant category], an alien must have at least a bachelor's degree") (emphasis added). Federal 
courts have upheld our ability to interpret significance from whether the singular or plural is used in a 
regulation. See Maramjaya v. USCIS, Civ. Act. No. 06-2158 (RCL) at 12 (D.C. Cir. March 26, 2008); 
Snapnames.com Inc. v. Chertoff, 2006 WL 3491005 at *10 (D. Or. Nov. 30, 2006) (upholding an 
interpretation that the regulatory requirement for "a" bachelor's degree or "a" foreign equivalent degree 
at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(2) requires a single degree rather than a combination of academic credentials). 
Thus, for purposes of the requested immigrant visa category, a foreign equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's 
2 Although we are not bound by decisions issued by the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals, we may nevertheless 
take note of the reasoning in such decisions when considering issues that arise in the employment-based immigrant visa 
process. 
3 
degree must constitute a single degree. 
The Director concluded that the labor certification did not support the requested classification for 
advanced degree professional because of the language the Petitioner added to section H.14, which clearly 
states that it would accept a combination of unspecified degrees to meet a bachelor's degree equivalency. 
A plain reading of this additional language creates a different minimum requirement that does not, in 
fact, require a single degree. Instead, it allows for a combination of degrees, which as written, could 
be less than the required single bachelor's degree. 
Because the Petitioner's own requirements allow "a combination of degrees" to satisfy the bachelor's 
degree requirement, the result is the "equivalent" of a bachelor's degree rather than a "foreign equivalent 
degree."3 By adding this language in H.14, the Petitioner no longer restricts the requirements to those 
specified in boxes H.4 through H. l O and creates a different minimum education requirement. 
Neither the Act nor USCIS regulations allow a position to be classified as an advanced degree 
professional position if the minimum educational requirement can be met with anything other than a 
single academic degree. Since the minimum requirements of the labor certification in this case can be 
satisfied with less than a single U.S. bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree followed by five 
years of progressive experience, the labor certification does not support the requested classification of 
advanced degree professional under section 203(b )(2) of the Act. 
III. CONCLUSION 
The Petitioner's allowance of a combination of degrees to meet the bachelor's degree equivalency 
prohibits us from concluding that the labor certification supports a request for advanced degree 
professional classification under section 203(b )(2) of the Act. We, therefore, affirm the Director's 
revocation of the approved petition on this basis. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
3 Compare 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(D) (defining "equivalence to completion of a United States baccalaureate or higher 
degree" for purposes of H-1 B classification.) Where combinations of education or experience may equate to baccalaureate 
degrees, the Act and regulations state so explicitly. See section 214(i)(2)(C) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 
§ 1184(i)(2)(C) (allowing H-lB workers to have "experience in the specialty equivalent to the completion of such 
[bachelor's] degree"); see also 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(C)(4) (H-lB workers may have "education, specialized training, 
and/or progressively responsible experience that is equivalent to completion of a United States baccalaureate ... degree"). 
The regulations pe11aining to the immigrant classification sought in this matter do not contain similar language. 
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