dismissed EB-3 Case: Banking

MATTER OF M-S-&j.._ _ ___, 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: SEPT. 26, 2019 
APPEAL OF NEBRASKA SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
PETITION: FORM I-140, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR ALIEN WORKER 
The Petitioner, a.._ ________ _, company, seeks to employ the Beneficiary as a vice 
president, banking. 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 labor 
certification requires less than a U.S. bachelor's degree and therefore does not support the requested 
visa classification of professional. 
On appeal the Petitioner asserts that it meant to seek skilled worker rather than professional 
classification for the Beneficiary, that the Director should have requested additional evidence to 
clarify the Petitioner's intent, and that the Beneficiary is eligible for both visa classifications in any 
event. 
Upon de nova 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. 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, 
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. 
Matter of M-S-&I~-~ 
II. ANALYSIS 
At issue in this case is whether the labor certification supports the requested visa classification and 
whether the Beneficiary qualifies for that classification. 
In its Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, the Petitioner checked the box at part 2.1.e. 
which specifies that the petition is being filed for "[a] professional ( at a minimum, possessing a 
bachelor's degree or a foreign degree equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree)." The regulation at 
8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(2) defines "professional" as "a qualified alien who holds at least a United States 
baccalaureate degree or a foreign equivalent degree." A petition seeking professional classification, 
therefore, must be accompanied by a labor certification that requires the minimum of a baccalaureate 
degree to qualify for the proffered position. 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(3)(i). A beneficiary must meet all of 
the education, training, experience, and other requirements of the labor certification as of the petition's 
priority date, 1 which in this case is October 5, 2017. See Matter of Wing's Tea House, 16 I&N Dec. 
158, 159 (Acting Reg'l Comm'r 1977). 
A. Requirements of the Labor Certification 
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 it is 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 alien employment 
certification application form. Id. at 834. Moreover, we read the labor certification as a whole to 
determine its requirements. "The Form ETA 9089 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). 
In this case, section H of the labor certification states the following with respect to the requirements 
for the proffered position of vice president, banking: 
H.4. 
H.4-B 
H.5 
H.6 
H.6-A 
H.7 
H.7-A 
Education: Minimum level required: 
Major Field of Study: 
Is training required for the job? 
Is experience in the job offered required? 
How long? 
Is an alternate field of study acceptable? 
What field(s) 
Bachelor's Degree 
Business Administration 
No 
Yes 
72 months 
Yes 
Finance or related 
1 The priority date of a petition is ordinarily the date the underlying labor certification is filed with the DOL. See 
8 C.F.R. § 204.5( d). 
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Matter of M-S-~~--~ 
H.8 Is an alternate combination of education 
H.8-A 
H.8-B 
H.8-C 
H.9 
H.10 
H.10-A 
H.10-B 
and experience acceptable? 
What alternate level of education? 
Yes 
Other 
If "Other" - specify alternate level required 3- or 4-year bachelor's degree 
Alternate experience requirement, in years 6 years 
Is a foreign educational equivalent acceptable? Yes 
Is experience in an alternate occupation acceptable? Yes 
How long? 72 months 
Job Title(s) of alternate occupation(s) Investment Banking Associate, 
Investment Banking Analyst, or 
related job in Investm't Banking 
According to its plain language, therefore, the labor certification's minimum educational 
requirement is a three- or four-year bachelor's degree in business administration, finance, or a 
related field of study, and its minimum experience requirement is 72 months (six years) in the job 
offered or as an investment banking associate, an investment banking analyst, or in a related job in 
the investment banking field. 
B. Labor Certification Does Not Support Professional Classification 
In denying the petition the Director found that the alternate educational requirement of "other" and 
acceptance of a three- or four-year bachelor's degree is less than a U.S. bachelor's degree, which 
meant that the proffered position did not qualify as a profession and the labor certification did not 
support the requested visa classification of professional. On appeal the Petitioner does not contest 
the Director's finding that the labor certification's minimum educational requirement does not 
support a petition seeking professional classification. 
C. Skilled Worker Classification Cannot be Considered for this Petition 
On appeal the Petitioner claims that it actually intended to seek skilled worker classification for the 
Beneficiary, and committed a clerical error on the Form I-140 petition by indicating that it was 
seeking professional classification. According to the Petitioner, this clerical error was "readily 
apparent" in the labor certification that accompanied the petition - specifically, in its alternate 
educational requirement of a three- or four-year bachelor's degree - as well as in other materials 
showing that the Beneficiary qualifies for skilled worker classification. The Petitioner contends that 
the Director should have issued a request for evidence to clarify which visa classification was being 
sought for the Beneficiary. The Petitioner's contention, however, presupposes that there was 
ambiguity on the face of petition and the labor certification regarding which visa classification the 
Petitioner intended to request. We find no such ambiguity in those documents. 
In part 2 of the Form I-140 the Petitioner checked the box at I.e. stating that the petition was being 
filed for a professional. The Petitioner did not check the box at 1.f stating that the petition was 
being filed for a skilled worker. While the Petitioner asserts that it was "readily apparent" that it 
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Matter of M-S-& .... I __ _. 
intended to file for a skilled worker based on the requirements in the labor certification, no such 
intent is manifested in that document considering the fact that its combination of educational and 
experience requirements, including a three- or four-year bachelor's degree and six years of 
experience, far exceed the basic requirement for skilled worker classification, which is two years of 
qualifying experience. Moreover, the Petitioner's initial evidence included an academic equivalency 
evaluation of the Beneficiary's educational degree, which asserted that this degree was equivalent to 
a bachelor of business administration in the United States. Contrary to the Petitioner's claim on 
appeal, therefore, we find that the materials submitted with the petition indicate a clear intent to file 
for professional, not skilled worker, classification. 
The USCIS website advises petitioners that "[ a ]lthough you may request that we change the visa 
classification to correct a clerical error in Part 2 of the form, we will make the final determination 
about whether to change the visa classification based on everything in your case." Petition Filing 
and Processing Procedures for Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition/or Alien Worker, https://www.uscis. 
gov /forms/petition- filing-and-processing-procedures- form-i-140-immigrant-petition-alien-worker 
(last visited Sept. 23, 2019). The website goes on to state that "[w]e cannot change the visa category 
if we have already made a decision on your Form 1-140." Id. In this case the Petitioner did not 
request a change of visa classification until filing the appeal. 
D. Beneficiary Does Not Qualify for Professional Classification 
Finally, the Petitioner claims that the Beneficiary meets the requirements for professional 
classification if USCIS proceeds in adjudicating the petition as a request for that visa classification. 
A petition for professional classification "must be accompanied by evidence that the [beneficiary] 
holds a United States baccalaureate degree or a foreign equivalent degree." 8 C.F.R. 
§ 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C). With its initial evidence the Petitioner submitted copies of the Beneficiary's 
academic record which shows that he earned a three-year bachelor of science in international 
business administration froml I University inl I The Netherlands, awarded in August 
2009. 2 Along with this academic record the Petitioner submitted an academic equivalency evaluation 
from The Trustforte Corporation (T
1
stforte)[ dated March 3, 2016, which concluded that the 
Beneficiary's three-year degree from University was equivalent to a bachelor's degree in 
business administration from an accredited U.S. college or university. On appeal, however, the 
Petitioner submits another evaluation from Trustforte, dated July 25, 2016, which concludes that the 
very same degree is not equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree, but rather to three years of academic 
studies toward a U.S. bachelor's degree. The second Trustforte evaluation states that the 
Educational Database for Global Education (EDGE), 3 created by the American Association of 
2 The record also shows that the Beneficiary had six and a half years of experience as an investment banking analyst and 
investment banking associate with the Petitioner and affiliated companies between July 2010 and December 2016, which 
satisfied the experience requirement of the labor ce1iification. 
3 EDGE is described on its information page as "a valuable resource for evaluating educational credentials earned in 
foreign systems. whether the purpose is ultimately for admission into an institution of higher learning in the United 
States, to obtain employment. to establish visa eligibility, or to qualify for additional professional qualifications." 
https://www.aacrao.org/resources/ AACRAO-International/about-edge (last visited Aug. 13, 2019). 
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Matter of M-S-&I~--~ 
Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), 4 also rates a three-year bachelor of 
science degree in The Netherlands as comparable to three years of university study in the United 
States. The Petitioner offers no explanation for Trustforte's conflicting evaluations, or how the 
second evaluation supports its claim on appeal that the Beneficiary's degree meets the requirements 
for professional classification. In any event, we find the second evaluation to be more credible, 
particularly since it is consistent with the credential advice of EDGE, which we consider to be a 
reliable, peer-reviewed source of information about foreign degree equivalencies. Furthermore, 
consistent with the EDGE credential advice and the second Trustforte evaluation indicating that 
three-year bachelor of science degrees in The Netherlands generally, and the Beneficiary's three­
year degree in particular, are equivalent to three years of university study in the United States, we 
note that a U.S. bachelor's degree generally requires four years of academic study. See Matter of 
Shah, 17 I&N Dec. 244,245 (Reg'l Comm'r 1977). 
Thus, the evidence submitted on appeal, including the second Trustforte evaluation and the 
credential advice from EDGE, refutes the Petitioner's claim that the Beneficiary's three-year 
bachelor of science degree from I I University is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree. Since 
the record does not show that the Beneficiary has a foreign equivalent degree to a U.S. baccalaureate 
degree, as required by 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C), the Petitioner has not established that the 
Beneficiary qualifies for classification as a professional. 
III. CONCLUSION 
The educational requirements of the labor certification do not support the requested visa classification 
of professional. Even if they did so, the Beneficiary does not have the requisite educational credential 
to qualify for professional classification. The appeal will be dismissed for the above stated reasons, 
with each considered an independent and alternative basis for the decision. 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 ofM-S-&j~_~IID# 5834031 (AAO Sept. 26, 2019) 
4 AACRAO is described on its website as ·'a nonprofit, voluntary, professional association of more than 11,000 higher 
education admissions and registration professionals who represent more than 2,600 institutions in over 40 countries." 
http://www.aacrao.org/who-we-are (last visited Aug. 13, 2019). 
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