dismissed EB-3 Case: Accounting

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
MATTER OF F-R-E-1-F-, LLC 
APPEAL OF TEXAS SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: SEPT. 11, 2019 
PETITION: FORM 1-140, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR ALIEN WORKER 
The Petitioner, a real estate investment and management company, seeks to employ the Beneficiary as 
a staff accountant. It requests classification of the Beneficiary as a professional under the third 
preference immigrant classification. Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 
section 203(b)(3)(A)(ii), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(3)(A)(ii). This employment-based immigrant 
classification allows a U.S. employer to sponsor a professional with a baccalaureate degree for lawful 
permanent resident status. 
The Director of the Texas Service Center denied the petition. The Director found that the Beneficiary 
does not have a U.S. bachelor's degree or a foreign equivalent degree, and therefore does not meet the 
regulatory requirement to qualify for classification as a professional. On appeal, the Petitioner asserts 
that the Beneficiary has the foreign equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree, thus qualifying her for 
classification as a professional. 
Upon de nova review, we will dismiss the appeal. 
I. THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRATION 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). 1 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 domestic workers similarly employed. See section 212(a)(5)(A)(i)(I)-(11) 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 applies 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. 
1 The priority date of a petition is the date the DOL accepted the labor certification for processing , which in this case is 
November 28, 2017. See 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(d). 
Matter of F-R-E-1-F-, LLC 
II. ANALYSIS 
At issue in this case is whether the Beneficiary's education is sufficient to qualify for the professional 
classification. The regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C) states, in pertinent part: 
If the petition is for a professional, the petition must be accompanied by evidence that 
the [beneficiary] holds a United States baccalaureate degree or a foreign equivalent 
degree . . . . Evidence of a baccalaureate degree shall be in the form of an official 
college or university record showing the date the baccalaureate degree was awarded 
and the area of concentration of study. 
There is no provision in the statute or the regulations that would allow a beneficiary to qualify under 
section 203(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act with anything less than a full baccalaureate degree from a college 
or university. Where the analysis of the beneficiary's credentials relies on a combination of work 
and/ or multiple lesser degrees, the result is the "equivalent" of a bachelor's degree rather than a single­
source "foreign equivalent degree." In order to have education equating to a bachelor's degree under 
section 203(b )(3)(A)(ii) of the Act, the beneficiary must have a single degree that is the "foreign 
equivalent degree" to a United States baccalaureate degree from a college or university. A beneficiary 
must also meet all of the education, training, experience, and other requirements of the labor 
certification as of the petition's priority date. See Matter of Wing's Tea House, 16 I&N Dec. 158, 159 
(Acting Reg'l. Comm'r 1977). 
On its Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, the Petitioner checked the box at Part 2.1.e. 
indicating that the petition was being filed for "[a] professional ( at the minimum, possessing a 
bachelor's degree or a foreign degree equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree)." The petition was 
accompanied by labor certification which states the following in section H with respect to the 
minimum requirements for the job of staff accountant: 
4. Education: Minimum level required: 
4-B. Major Field of Study: 
5. Is training required for the job? 
6. Is experience in the job offered required? 
6-A. How long? 
7. Is an alternate field of study acceptable? 
8. Is an alternate combination of education 
and experience acceptable? 
9. Is a foreign educational equivalent acceptable? 
10. Is experience in an alternate occupation acceptable? 
Bachelor's degree 
Accounting 
No 
Yes 
24 months 
No 
No 
Yes 
No 
Section J of the labor certification states that the Beneficiary's hirhest level of education relevant to 
the iab aooactuoitv is a bachelor's degree in accounting from the I I ] completed in 2011. 
As evidence of the Beneficiary's educational credentials, the Petitioner submitted copies of a degree 
certificate and transcript from the University of I I (U of0 in Pakistan showing that the 
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Matter of F-R-E-1-F-, LLC 
Beneficiary passed her coursework and was awarded a bachelor of commerce in March 2013 after two 
years of study. The record also contains examination certificates and results cards from Dshowing 
that the Beneficiary passed three sequential I I examinations upon completion of specific 
coursework between 2003 and 2010. Further, the record contains herl I admission cert~ficate,
1 demonstrating that she was admitted to associate membership in~in February 2011, and he 
training completion certificate issued in 2009. 
The Petitioner also submitted an evaluation of the Beneficiary's academic credentials froml I 
.__ ____________ ____,., together with a subsequent letter from Dcontaining additional 
support and research. The evaluation asserted that the Beneficiary's two-year bachelor of commerce 
degree from U ofO together with her final examination certificates from D and her associate 
membership in~ were equivalent to a bachelor's! degkee in accounting from a regionally 
accredited institution in the United States. The subsequent etter cites several resources in support 
of its assertion that being an associate in ~is equivalent to a four-year bachelor's degree. 
The Petitioner also submitted a notification from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan 
dated December 14, 2018, which states that the HEC recognizes final examination certificates awarded 
byLJ "as equivalent to Masters of Commerce (M.Com.) degree involving 16-year schooling in 
Pakistan." The notification states that the HEC does not issue equivalence letters on an individual 
basis. 
In denying the petition, the Director stated that the Beneficiary's educational credentials from Pakistan 
were not equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree. The Director found that the combination of a two­
year bachelor of commerce degree from U of D and qualifications fromD did not constitute a 
foreign equivalent degree to a U.S. baccalaureate degree, as required by 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C) 
to qualify for classification as al profysional. He stated that the classification requires an official 
college or university record, and is not an educational institution. 
On appeal, the Petitioner asserts that the Beneficiary's final examination certificate froml I is 
equivalent by itself to a four-year bachelor's degree in accounting from an accredited college or 
university in the United States. The Petitioner cites the Educational Database for Global Education 
(EDGE), created by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers 
(AACRA0), 2 which states that the~final exam and associate membership represents attainment 
of a level of education comparable to a bachelor's degree in the United States. 3 
We will first address the EDGE database for Pakistan. We consider EDGE to be a reliable, peer­
reviewed source of information about for~n degree equivalencies. With regard to the Beneficiary's 
bachelor of commerce degree from U of LJ EDGE states that such degrees are awarded in Pakistan 
2 AACRAO is described on its website as ·'a non-profit, voluntary, professional association of more than 11,000 higher 
education professionals who represent approximately 2,600 institutions in more than 40 countries." AACRAO, 
http://www.aacrao.org/who-we-are (last visited Sept. 4, 2019). EDGE is described on its registration page as "a web-based 
resource for the evaluation of foreign educational credentials." AACRAO, http://edge.aacrao.org/info.php (last visited 
Sept. 4, 2019). 
3 On appeal, the Petitioner references an educational equivalency evaluation from _________ Ph.D., CPA. 
However, this evaluation has not been submitted to the record. 
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Matter of F-R-E-1-F-, LLC 
upon completion of two to three years of tertiary study and are comparable to two to three years of 
university study in the United States.4 The Beneficiary's two-year bachelor of commerce, therefore, 
is comparable to two years of university study in the United States. It is not equivalent to a bachelor's 
degree from a U.S. college or university, which generally requires four years of academic study. See 
Matter of Shah, 17 I&N Dec. 244, 245 (Reg'l Comm'r 1977). As for the Beneficiary's I I 
credentials, EDGE indicates that the final examination certificate and D membership represent the 
culmination of four years of tertiary study and a level of education comparable to a bachelor's degree 
in the United States. 5 Educational comrrnrability to a U.S. bachelor's degree, however, does not make 
the final examination certificate from I I and associate membership in I I a single source 
"foreign equivalent degree" to a U.S. baccalaureate degree, as required by 8 C.F.R. § 
204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C), becausec=] is not a college or university and is not a degree-granting institution. 
As previously discussed, the regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C) requires that the beneficiary 
have a U.S. baccalaureate or foreign equivalent degree and evidence thereof in the form of an official 
college or university record to be eligible for professional classification. I I is not an academic 
institution that can confer a degree with an official college or university record. See Snapnames.com, 
Inc. v. Michael Chertoff, 2006 WL 3491005 *11 (D. Ore. Nov. 30, 2006) (finding USCIS was justified 
in concluding that membership in a similar organization in India, the Institute of Chartered 
I i(ICAI), was not a college or university "degree" for purposes of classification as 
a member of the professions holding an advanced degree). Like ICAI in India,I lin Pakistan is a 
professional organization, not a college or university, and neither its final examination certificate nor 
its associate membership certificate is a degree. While these credentials may be "comparable" to a 
U.S. bachelor's degree as a measure of educational achievement, they are not, either individually or 
collectively, a "foreign equivalent degree" to a U.S. baccalaureate degree within the meaning of 8 
C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C). Accordingly, they do not qualify the Beneficiary for classification as a 
professional under section 203(b )(3)(A)(ii) of the Act. 
For the reasons discussed above, the0equivalency evaluation in the record has little probative value 
in this proceeding. The evaluation does not assert that the Beneficiary's only degree, the two-year 
bachelor of commerce from U of0 is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree. Instead, the evaluation 
asserts that equivalency to a U.S. bachelor's degree was attained when the Beneficiary passed her 
D final examination and obtained I !membership. Neither of these certificates from 0, 
however, constitutes a degree from a degree-granting institution. Thus, they do not represent a single 
source "foreign equivalent degree" to a U.S. baccalaureate degree, as required in 8 C.F.R. § 
204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C). Evaluations of academic credentials by evaluation services are utilized by USCIS 
as advisory opinions only. USCIS may reject or give lesser evidentiary weight to credential 
evaluations inconsistent with the record or "in any way questionable." Matter o_f Caron Int 'l, Inc., 19 
I&N Dec. 791, 795 (Comm'r 1988).6 The0evaluation does not establish that the Beneficiary's 
4 AACRAO EDGE, http://edge.aacrao.org/country/credential/bachelor-of-arts-ba-bachelor-of-commerce-bcom-bachelor­
of-science-bsc-2?cid=single (last visited Sept. 4, 2019). 
5 AACRAO EDGE, http://edge.aacrao.org/country/credential . .__ _______________ _. final-
exam-association-membership?cid=single (last visited Sept. 4, 2019). 
6 On appeal, the Petitioner also cites chapter 22 of the Adjudicator's Field Manual (AFM) which states that adjudicators 
"may favorably consider a credentials evaluation performed by an independent credentials evaluator who has provided a 
credible, logical and well-documented case for such an equivalency determination that is based solely on the [beneficiary's] 
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Matter of F-R-E-1-F-, LLC 
credentials from U o±Q or D constitute a single foreign equivalent degree to a U.S. bachelor's 
degree. 
Similarly, the HEC notification does not establish that the Beneficiary's credentials from U ofn or 
I I constitute a single foreign equivalent degree to a U.S. bachelor's degree. Instea0he 
notification states that HEC recognizes a final examination certificate awarded by c=]as equivalent 
to a master of commerce degree. As detailed above, a certificate from I I does not constitute a 
degree from a degree-granting institution. As noted by the Director, HEC does not listl las an 
authorized university. Further, the HEC notification is not an individual evaluation of the 
Beneficiary's credentials and has little probative value in this matter. 
For the foregoing reasons, the appeal will be dismissed because the Petitioner has not established that the 
Beneficiary has a foreign degree that is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree, as required to qualify for 
classification as a professional under section 203(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act. 
III. CONCLUSION 
In visa petition proceedings, it is the petitioner's burden to establish eligibility for the immigration 
benefit sought. Section 291 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1361. The Petitioner has not met that burden. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
Cite as Matter of F-R-E-1-F-, LLC, ID# 5808936 (AAO Sept. 11, 2019) 
foreign degree(s)." AFM 22.2(i)(l )(C). The AFM further states that "any educational equivalency evaluation performed 
by a credentials evaluator ... is solely advisory in nature and that the final determination continues to rest with the 
[adjudicator]." Id. As discussed above, we reviewed th(LJevaluation and determined that it had little probative value 
in this matter. 
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