sustained EB-2 Case: Software Engineering

MATTER OF E- INC. 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: JULY 25, 2017 
APPEAL OF NEBRASKA SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
PETITION: FORM I-140, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR ALIEN WORKER 
The Petitioner, a telecommunications company, seeks to employ the beneficiary as a software engineer: 
It requests classification of the Beneficiary as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree 
under the second preference immigrant classification. See Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) 
section 203(b)(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(2). This "EB-2" classification allows a U.S. employer to 
sponsor a professional with an advanced degree for lawful permanent resident status. 
The Director of the Nebraska Service Center denied the petition. The Director found that the 
Beneficiary did not have a bachelor's degree and five years of post-baccalaureate experience as of 
the petition's priority date, and therefore was not eligible for classification as an advanced degree 
professional. 
On appeal the Petitioner submits a brief and supporting documentation. The Petitioner contends that 
the date of the Beneficiary's bachelor's degree should be considered the date he completed all 
requirements for the degree as evidenced by his provisional certificate. Based on the earlier date of 
the provisional certificate, the Petitioner asserts that the Beneficiary also had more than five years of 
qualifying post-baccalaureate experience, making him eligible for classification as an advanced 
degree professional. 
Upon de novo review, we will sustain the appeal. 
I. LAW 
For this advanced degree professional position, the labor certification must provide that the job 
requires an advanced degree or its equivalent. See 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)( 4)(i). In pertinent part, 
Department of Homeland Security regulations define the term "advanced degree" as: "[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." 
8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2) (emphasis added). To be eligible for this EB-2 classification solely on the 
basis of a foreign degree equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree, a beneficiary must also possess five 
years of qualifying post-baccalaureate experience. See 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(3). 
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Matter of E- Inc. 
A beneficiary must also have all the education, training, and experience specified on the labor 
certification as ofthe petition's priority date. See Matter of Wing's Tea House, 16 I&N 158 (Act. 
Reg'l Comm'r 1977). 
II. ANALYSIS 
The Beneficiary possesses a four-year, eight.,semester Bachelor of Technology degree in the field of 
Information Technology from in India. The Beneficiary also has 
eight years of work experience in software engineering with in 
India. The record establishes that the Beneficiary's degree is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree in a 
field of study identified as acceptable on the labor certification, and that his experience qualities as 
progressive experience within the meaning of8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2). 
The issue in this proceeding is when the Beneficiary received his "degree" from 
More specifically, we will explore whether the "degree" dates from when the Beneficiary 
actually received the formal diploma, or earlier when he completed all of the requirements for the 
degree and received a provisional cert?ficate indicating that his degree was approved. 
The Beneficiary's priority date (when the labor certification was filed) is January 25, 2016. The 
Beneficiary was issued a provisional certificate on March 21, 2007, which stated that he passed his 
final examination in April 2005 and had completed all requirements for a bachelor of technology 
degree. The Beneficiary did not receive his formal diploma until April 21, 2010. Prior to working 
for the Petitioner, the Beneficiary was employed by from September 11, 2006, to September 
12, 2014.1 Finding that April 21, 2010, was the date of the Beneficiary's degree, the Director 
concluded that the Beneficiary did not have five years of qualifying post-baccalaureate experience 
by the priority date, and was therefore ineligible for classification as an advanced degree 
professional. 
On appeal, the Petitioner maintains that the Beneficiary had the requisite bachelor's degree and more 
than five years of post-baccalaureate experience if we recognize that his "degree" dates from his 
completion of all degree requirements and the issuance of the provisional certificate. Calculated 
from this earlier date rather than the date of his formal diploma, the Beneficiary would have had the 
required bachelor's degree and five years of qualifying experience well before his employment with 
Wipro ended in September 2014, and the priority date of January 25, 2016. 
The statute and regulations governing the EB-2 classification speak in terms of "degrees," not 
diplomas. We do not limit our analysis to the date on which a university confers a formal diploma. 
Applicable EB-2 regulations reflect this distinction. For these EB-2 "bachelor plus five" petitions, 
the "initial evidence" rule requires submission of an "official academic record" showing the 
beneficiary has a foreign equivalent "degree." 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(3)(i)(B). An "official academic 
1 
On November 3, 2014, the Beneficiary commenced his employment with the Petitioner, which is not qualifying 
experience under the terms of the labor certification. 
2 
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Matter of E- Inc. 
record" is not limited to a formal diploma.2 In fact, in the next provision - relating to EB-2 
exceptional ability petitions - the initial evidence rule expressly distinguishes between degree and 
diploma: "[a]n official academic record showing that the alien has a degree, diploma, cert(ficate, or 
similarawardfrom a college, university .... " 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(3)(ii)(A) (emphasis added).3 
Accordingly, we condJct a case-specific analysis to determine whether, at the time a provisional 
degree certificate is issued, the individual has completed all substantive requirements to earn the 
degree and the university has approved the degree. We consider the individual nature of each 
university's or college's requirements for each program of study and each student's completion of 
those requirements. A petitioner will bear the burden to establish that a beneficiary's provisional 
degree certificate reflects that, at the time the certificate was issued, all of the substantive 
requirements for the degree were met and the degree was in fact approved by the responsible 
university body.4 
The record contains the Beneficiary's transcripts from in 
India, dating from November 6, 2002, to July 9, 2005, listing the courses taken by the Beneficiary in 
the eight semesters of his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) program and indicating that he took 
seven examinations between July 2002 and April 2005. The record also contains A copy of a 
Provisional Certificate cum Consolidated Marks Memorandum (PC) from 
m India, dated March 21, 2007, stating that: 
This is to certify that [the Beneficiary] has qualified himself for the Degree of 
Bachelor of Technology ... [having] passed the Examination prescribed therefor in 
the First Class with Distinction held in April 2005 and that he has done all that is 
necessary for the formal presentation of the Degree of Bachelor of Technology. 
The record also contains a copy of the Beneficiary's bachelor of technology diploma from 
dated April21, 2010. 
According to the above documents from the Beneficiary completed all of 
his coursework and examinations for a bachelor oftechnology degree by April 2005. The issuance of 
2 
See also USCIS Adjudicator's Field Manual, Appendix 22-1, Memorandum from Michael D. Cronin, Acting Associate 
Commissioner, USC IS HQ 70/6.2, Educational and Experience Requirements for Employment-Based Second Preference 
(EB-2) Immigrants (March 20, 2000) at 2, https://uscis.gov/ilink/docView/ AFM/HTMLI AFM/0-0-0-1 /0-0-0-26573/0-Q-
0-311 07.html (last visited May 16, 2017), ("Whether the alien beneficiary actually possesses the advanced degree should 
be demonstrated by evidence in the form of a transcript from the institution that granted the advanced degree. An 
adjudicator must similarly consider the baccalaureate transcript . ... ")(emphasis added). 
3 While this provision help's clarify that the terms degree and diploma are not equivalent, we note generally that, in 
contrast to the advanced degree category, the EB-2 exceptional ability category is not grounded entirely in an academic 
award and thus its initial evidence rule is more expansive than that of the advanced degree category. 
4 
Along with any other evidence, petitioners must also submit a copy of a beneficiary's statement of marks or transcript 
to demonstrate years of study, andcoursework completed, along with a copy ofthe provisional certificate. See 8 C.F.R 
. § 204.5(k)(3) (requiring the submission of an official academic record as evidence of a beneficiary's possession of an 
advanced degree or equivalent of an advanced degree). 
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Matter of E- Inc. 
the provisional certificate in March 2007 certified that the Beneficiary had completed all substantive 
requirements and that the degree was in fact approved. 
Finally, we turn to information from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and 
Admissions Officers (AACRAO) Electronic Database for Global Education (EDGE),5 and note that 
it accords with the Petitioner's claim and evidence. On the matter of provisional degree certificates 
issued by Indian universities, EDGE states: 
The Provisional Degree Certificate is eviden~e of completion of all requirements for 
the degree in question, the name of the degree and the date upon which it was 
approved by the responsible university governing body, and is comparable to an 
official US academic transcript with a degree statement certifying completion of all 
requirements for the degree, the name of the degree and the date upon which it was 
approved by the academic senate at universities in the United States.6 
EDGE additionally notes that some students never receive their "final Degree Certificate," but 
instead rely on the provisional degree certificate as evidence of degree completion. !d. 
Therefore, we conclude that the Beneficiary's provisional certificate, together with his statement of marks, 
demonstrate that he completed his degree on March 21, 2007. We also find that he possessed over five years of 
post-baccalaureate experience by the priority date. 
III. CONCLUSION 
We will sustain the appeal because the Petitioner has established that the Beneficiary meets the 
minimum education and experience requirements of the labor certification and for classification as 
an advanced degree professional. 
ORDER: The appeal is sustained. 
Cite as Matter of E- Inc., ID# 406002 (AAO July 25, 2017) 
5 
AACRAO is "a nonprofit, voluntary, professional association of more than II ,000 higher education professionals who 
represent approximately 2,600 institutions in over 40 countries." www.aacrao.org/about (last visited July 19, 2017). 
According to its registration page, EDGE is "a web-based resource for the evaluation of foreign educational credentials." 
http://edge.aacrao.org/info.php (last visited July 19, 20 17). 
6 
See India: Provisional Degree Certificate, AACRAO, http://edge.aacrao.org/country/credential/provisional-degree­
certificate (last visited July 19, 20 17). 
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