dismissed EB-3 Case: Accounting

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
MATTER OF R-C-I-
APPEAL OF TEXAS SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: JUNE 22,2018 
PETITION: FORM I-140, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR ALIEN WORKER 
The Petitioner, a hotel, seeks to employ the Beneficiary as an accountant. It requests classification of 
the Beneficiary as a professional under the third preference immigrant category. Immigration and 
Nationality Act (the Act) section 203(b)(3)(A)(ii), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(3)(A)(ii). This employment­
based "EB-3" immigrant classification allows a U.S. employer to sponsor a professional with a 
baccalaureate degree for lawful permanent resident status. 
The Director of the Nebraska Service Center denied the petition on the ground that the Beneficiary 
does not have the requisite educational degree to qualify for classification as a professional. 
On appeal the Petitioner asserts that the Beneficiary does have the requisite educational credential to 
qualify for classification as a professional. 
Upon de novo review, we will dismiss the appeal. 
I. LAW 
Employment-based immigration generally follows a three-step process. First, an employer obtains 
an approved labor certification from the U.S. Departmeni 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 arc 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)-(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, 
if USCIS 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. 
For the professional classification requested here, 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 
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degree . . . . Evidence of a baccalaur eate degree shall be in the form of an official 
coll ege o r university record showing the date the bacc alaurea te degree was a warded 
and the area of concentrati on of study. 
II. ANALYSIS 
At issue is whether the Beneficiary has the requisite U.S. baccalaur eate 
or foreign equiv alent degre e 
to qualify for professional classification. Addr essing criticism that its proposed regulations would 
bar baccal aureate equivalenci es based on combin ations ofeducat ional and e mployment experience , 
the former Immigration and Naturali zation Service found that "bo th the Act and its legisl ative 
history make clear that, in order to qualify as a professional under the third cla ssification . .. , an 
alien must have at least a bachelor 's degree." Final Rule for Employment-B ased Immigr ant 
Petitions, 56 Fed. Reg. 60897, 60900 (Nov. 29, 1991) (empha sis added). As s uch, a "foreign 
equival ent de gree" means a singl e degree equating to at least a U.S . bachelor's degree, excluding 
equivalenci es based on combin ations of educ at'ion and employm ent experience , a nd on lesser 
education al credenti als. Furth ermore, in Snapnames.com, Inc. v. Michael Chertoff, 2006 WL 
3491005 (D. Or.· Nov. 30, 2006), the cour t held that, in profess ional and advanced d egree 
profe ssional cases, where the ben eficiary is statutorily requir ed t o hold at least a baccalaureate 
degree, USCIS properly concluded that a singl e foreign degree or its equiv alent is requir ed. The 
beneficiar y' s degree must also be from a college or universi ty, as the regula tion at 8 C.F.R. 
§ 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C) requir es the submission of an "official college or unive rsity record " showing that 
a bachelor's degree was awa rded. 
On the labor certification the Beneficiar y identifi es his highest leve l of education relevan t to the job 
offered as a bachelor' s d egree in accounting from the 
United Kingd om, complet ed in 2003. As ev idence 
of the 
Benefici ary's educational credential the record includes a cop y of a certificate from the in 
Scotland, _awarding membership to the Beneficiary in Nove mber 2003 , the Beneficiary's 
transcript of completed courses, and educa tional equivalency eva luations from World Education 
Servic es and Educational Credential Evalu ators , both of which assert that membership in the 
is compar able to a bachelor 's degree in the Unit ed State s. 
In denying the petition, the Director found t~at the is not a degree-gran ting academic 
institution , a nd that the membership certificat e it granted to the Beneficiary does not m eet the 
regulator y requirement of an official college or university record showing that the Beneficiary 
received a bachelor's degr ee. The Director referenced Snapnames.com, Inc. v. Michael Ch ertofj~ 
2006 WL 3491005 , a feder al distri ct court decisio n that found USCIS justified in concludin g that 
member ship in the Institut e of Ch artered Accountant s of India (ICAI) was not a college or university 
"degree" for purposes of classification as an advanced degree profe ssional. The Director found that 
the like the ICAI, is a membership organiz ation, not a college or university, and membership 
in the is not a degree . 
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On appeal the Petitioner contends that the Snapnam es analogy should not be applied in this case 
becaus e the partners with two British universities and, according to its website, is awarding 
degrees. However, the evidence does not support the Petitioner's argument s. Although the website 
extract referen ced by the Petitioner confirms that the partners wit h 
University to offer a bachel or of science in applied acco unting and with the Uni versity of to 
offer a mas ter of science in profession al accountan cy, the materials do not ·indicat e that the 
grants degrees . In fact , other evidenc e submit.ted by the Petiti one r mak es clear that any degree 
awarded is in fact awarded by the affiliated universities. Spec ifically, the document titled ' 
Education Recognition Statu s" publi shed by the states' · · · University in 
partnership with offers a BSc (Hons) in Applied Accountin g" and that "The University of 
in partnership with offer s an MSc in profession al accoun tancy. Acco rdingly , it is 
University and the Univ ers ity of which offe r and awa rd the degrees. The 
Petitioner also refers to a section of the website for HOW TO BECOME A STUDENT which 
states that degr ees are being awarded , but there is no ev idence of any such document in the reco rd. 
The record does include a three-page website extr act entitled "APP LY TO BECOM E AN 
STUDENT," but it makes no reference to the awarding of degrees. In short , there is no ev idence in 
the record that the awards degrees in its own right or that it is recogn ized as a deg ree­
granting coll ege or univer sity. 
The Petitioner also cites the educational equivalency evaluations previousl y sub mitted , and their 
conclusions that the coursewor k complet ed by the Bene ficiary at the is equiv alent to ·a 
bachelor 's degree from an accredit ed U.S. college or univers ity. We acknow ledge that the 
cour sework completed by the Benefici ary at the may be considered comparable to the level 
of education rece ived in a U.S. bachelor 's degree program,. but it is not a "fo reign equi valent degree" 
as required by the regulati o n at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(3)( ii)(C) because the is not a degree­
granting institution and its certificate of m embership is not a "deg ree." Because the Beneficiary's 
membership certificate in the is not a bacc alaureate degree issued b y a college o r uni versity, 
it does not qualify him for class ification as a profession al under sect ion 203(b )(3)(A)( ii) of the Act. 1 
III. CON C LUSION 
Th e Beneficiary does not have a U.S. baccalaur eate degr~e or a foreign equivalent deg ree, as 
required to qualify for classification as a professional. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. 
Cite as Matter of R-C-1-, ID# 1430150 (AAO Ju~e 22, 2018) 
I The degree requirement for professional classifi cation was also made clea r on the Form 1-140 itself. In Part 2 (Petition 
Type) the Petition er selected item I.e, which states that: ''Thi s petition is being filed for a profes sional (at a minimum , 
possessing a bach elor 's degree or a foreign degree equivalent to a U.S. bachel or 's degre e). (Emphasis added.) 
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