dismissed EB-3 Case: Education

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MATTER OF L-P-S-
APPEAL OF TEXAS SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: JULY 28, 2017 
PETITION: FORM I-140, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR ALIEN WORKER 
The Petitioner, a public school system, seeks to employ the Beneficiary as a 
kindergarten teacher. It 
requests classification of the Beneficiary as a professional under the third preference immigrant 
classification. See Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), section 203(b)(J)(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 concluded that the 
credentials' evaluation and academic certificate submitted by the Petitioner were not sufficient to 
establish that the Beneficiary possesses a bachelor's degree as required by the labor certification and 
for classification as a professional. 
On appeal, the Petitioner states the credentials evaluation and the certification from the State of 
Louisiana are sufficient to establish that the Beneficiary satisfies the educational requirements. 
Upon de novo review, we will dismiss the appeal. 
I. LAW 
Employment-based immigration generally follows a three-step process. First , an employer must 
obtain 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 , 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. Section 
. 212(a)(5)(A)(i)(I)-(II) of the Act. Second, the employer may file an immigrant visa p~tition with 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). See section 204 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 
§ 1154. Third, if US CIS approves the petition, the foreign national may apply for an immigrant visa 
1 
The date the labor certification is filed is called the "priority date." See 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(d) . A beneficiar y must be 
eligible as of that date. 
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Matter of L-P-S- . 
abroad or, if eligible, adjustment of status in the United States. See section 245 of the Act, 8 U .S.C. 
§ 1255. 
When the immigrant petition is before USCIS, a petitioner must establish, among other things, that 
the beneficiary is eligible for the requested classification. The regulation at 8 C.F.R. 
§ 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C) states that a petition for a professional "must be accompanied by evidence that 
the alien holds a United States baccalaureate degree or a foreign equivalent degree .. . . " The 
petitioner must also demonstrate that the beneficiary meets all of the requirements of the offered 
position set forth on the labor certification by the priority date of the petition. 8 C.F .R. § 103 .2(b )(I), 
(12). See Matter of Wing's Tea House, 16 I&N Dec. 158,159 (Acting Reg'l Comm'r 1977); see 
also Matter of Katigbak, 14 I&N Dec. 45,49 (Reg'l Comm'r 1971). 
II. ANALYSIS 
As required by statute, the immigrant petition is accompanied by a labor certification certified by the 
DOL. The labor certification requires, at the minimum, a bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent in 
order to qualify for the proffered position. As noted, the requested classification of professional also 
requires that the Beneficiary possess a U.S. bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree.2 At 
issue is whether the Beneficiary possesses the U.S. bachelor's or foreign equivalent degree required 
by the terms labor certification and for classification as a professional. 
On the labor certification, the Beneficiary listed her education as a bachelor's degree in education 
from m Belgium, completed in 1995. The 
Petitioner submitted a copy of a certificate from the 
The certificate, which is written in French, is accompanied by an English translation, which states 
that the document was issued under the authority of the French Community of Belgium, and that it 
confers upon the Beneficiary "the degree of Elementary Teacher."3 The Petitioner also submitted 
copies of two pages of what appear to be transcripts of the Beneficiary's three years of coursework 
at however, these documents are not accompanied 
by English translations. 4 
2 
The Beneficiary must possess a single-source bachelor's degree in order to be eligible for classification as a 
professional. In Snapnames.com, Inc. v. Michael Chert off, 2006 WL 3491005 (D. Or. Nov. 30, 2006}, the court held 
that, in professional and advanced degree professional cases, where the beneficiary is statutorily required to hold a 
baccalaureate degree , USCIS properly concluded that a single foreign degree or its equivalent is required. See also 
Maramjaya v. USC!S, Civ. Act No. 06-2158 (D.D .C. Mar. 26, 2008)(for professional classification, USCIS regulations 
require the beneficiary to possess a single four-year U.S. bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree). 
3 The Director noted in his decision that the identity of the translator is not disclosed, and the document is not 
accompanied by a certification of the translator's competency to translate from French into English, as is required by 
regulation. Regarding foreign language evidence, 8 C.F.R . § 103.2(b)(3) states that "any document containing foreign 
language submitted to [USCIS] shall be accompanied by a full English language translation which the translator has 
certified as complete and accurate , and by the translator's certification that he or she is competent to translate from the 
foreign language into English." On appeal , the Petitioner has overcome the Director 's concerns and provided a 
certification from the translator. 
4 
As noted, foreign language documents must be accompa~ied by a translation. See id. 
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Matter of L-P-S-
The Petitioner further submitted a document on letterhead. The document is titled 
"CREDENTIAL EVALUATION REPORT" but the identity ofthe evaluator is undisclosed and the 
document is unsigned. The document states that the Beneficiary holds the "equivalent of Bachelor 
of Arts in Early Childhood Education by regionally accredited universities in the United States." 
The document states that the Beneficiary completed a three-year course of study and lists the 
admission requirements for the Beneficiary's course of study as "[p ]resentation of academic 
qualifications." We note that this document refers to the certificate from the French Community of 
Belgium as conferring a degree of "Preschool Teacher" upon the Beneficiary. USCIS may, in our 
discretion, use as advisory opinions statements submitted as expert testimony. However, where an 
opinion is not in accord with other information or is in any way questionable we are not required to 
accept or may give less weight to that evidence. Matter of Caron International, 19 J&N Dec. 791 
(Comm'r 1988); Matter of Sea, Inc., 19 I&N Dec. 817 (Comm'r 1988). See also Matter of D-R-, 25 
I&N Dec. 445 (BIA 2011). 
Here, the evidence submitted is not sufficient to establish that the Beneficiary has the U.S. 
bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree that is ~required by the labor certification and for 
classification as a professional. The Beneficiary's education was a three-year course of study; 
however, a U.S. bachelor's degree is generally found to require four years of education. Matter of 
Shah, 17 I&N Dec. 244, 245 (Comm'r 1977). The submitted credential evaluation, while 
acknowledging that the Beneficiary only studied for three years, does not indicate how the evaluator 
found these three years of study to equate to the four years of study required for a U.S. bachelor's 
degree. Further the evaluation does not discuss the entrance requirements to the program, and, 
contrary to the Director's request for evidence, does not include a detailed course analysis explaining 
how any equivalency was determined. In fact, it does not appear that the evaluator reviewed the 
Beneficiary's transcripts, as only the certificate from the French Community of Belgium is listed as 
the basis for the evaluation. Moreover, the evaluation states that the certificate from the French 
Community of Belgium conferred upon the Beneficiary a degree of "Preschool Teacher." This 
contradicts the translation of the certificate that was submitted by the Petitioner, which states that the 
. certificate conferred a degree of"Elementary Teacher." ·Petitioners must resolve discrepancies in the 
record with independent, objective evidence pointing to where the truth lies. Matter of Ho, 19 I&N 
Dec. 582, 591-92 (BIA 1988). 
On appeal, the Petitioner asserts that the Director "erred in not accepting the findings of the 
credential evaluation report." The Petitioner cites the experience and longevity of the company that 
performed the evaluation and notes that while the identity of the evaluator is not recorded on the 
evaluation, the "name and the qualifications of the senior evaluator ... are available for review 
online." The Petitioner stresses that the evaluation is "based on 'original official documents.'" 
However, as noted above, considering the deficiencies in the evaluation and the unresolved 
contradictions between the evaluation and other evidence submitted by the Petitioner,' we conclude 
that the credentials evaluation does not establish that the Beneficiary possesses a U.S. bachelor's 
degree or foreign equivalent degree, as required by the labor certification and for classification as a 
professional. 
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Matter of L-P-S-
The Petitioner also submitted a "Foreign Language Elementary Education" certificate from the State 
of Louisiana, Department of Education, valid from January 29, 2013, until January 29, 2018. The 
document states that the certificate is based upon the Beneficiary's "B.S., Foreign College or 
University, 1995." On appeal, the Petitioner asserts that the certificate could only be awarded if the 
Beneficiary has a bachelor's degree and urges us to defer to the Louisiana Department of Education 
determination that the Beneficiary had this degree. The Petitioner also submits a copy of Title 28 
Louisiana Administrative Code, Part CXXXI, Bulletin 746, Louisiana Standards of Certification of 
School Personnel, and states that there are two types of teacher preparation programs in Louisiana, 
both of which require bachelor's degrees. The Petitioner therefore concludes that the Beneficiary's 
teacher 
certification establishes that she possesses a bachelor's degree. 
However, as Title 28 of the Louisiana Administrative Code states in section 201, these are standards 
that govern state-approved teacher preparation programs in Louisiana. This title does not indicate 
that all applicants must attend one of these state-approved teacher preparation programs to become a 
certified teacher in Louisiana. Rather, according to the Louisiana Department of Education, 
applicants with foreign credentials need not attend a state-approved teach training program, but may 
instead apply as out-of-state applicants. In order to do so, they must have their foreign credentials 
evaluated by the dean of education at a regionally accredited institution in the United States or by the 
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Office of International 
Education Services or World Education Services. 5 The Louisiana Department of Education goes on 
to state that any evaluation of foreign credentials must include a statement verifying the 
comparability of the baccalaureate degree in the field of education with a course-by-course 
evaluation. As such, it appears that whatever documentation was submitted in support of the 
Beneficiary's application for a Louisiana teaching certificate is not the same as the evidence 
submitted to support this petition; as the evidence submitted here does not include a course-by­
course evaluation. Although the Beneficiary may be qualified for employment as an elementary 
school teacher according to the state, the Beneficiary's certification does not establish that she is 
eligible for the offered position under the requirements stated in the labor certification or for 
classification as a professional. 
Therefore, the. record does not demonstrate that the Beneficiary's three-year "degree of Elementary 
Teacher" from Belgium is a U.S. bachelor's or foreign equivalent degree required by the terms of the 
labor certification and for classification as a professional. 
III. CONCLUSION 
The Petitioner has not established that the Beneficiary possesses a U.S. bachelor's degree or a 
foreign equivalent degree, as is required by the labor certification and for classification as a 
professional. Accordingly, the Petitioner has not established the Beneficiary's eligibility for the 
immigration benefit sought. 
5 See Louisiana Department of Education, Teach Louisiana, Certification, Foreign Application· Packet. 
https://www.teachlouisiana .net/Teachers.aspx ?PageiD = 12311129 (last accessed July 5, 20 17). 
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· Matter of L-P-S -
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed_ 
Cite as Matter of L-P-S- , ID#533111 (AAO July 28, 2017) 
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