sustained EB-3 Case: Medical Research

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
MATTER OF M-M-R-
APPEAL OF TEXAS SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: APR. 24,2018 
PETITION: FORM I-140, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR ALIEN WORKER 
The Petitioner, a provider of clinical trial services, seeks to employ the Beneficiary as a medical 
research coordinator. It requests her classification under the third-preference, immigrant category as 
a professional. 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" category allows a U.S. business to sponsor a 
foreign national with a bachelor's degree for lawful permanent resident status. 
The Director of the Texas Service Center denied the petition, concluding that the Petitioner did not 
demonstrate the Beneficiary's possession of the minimum education required for the offered position 
and the requested classification. The Director also concluded that the Petitioner did not demonstrate 
the required ability to pay the protiered wage. 
On appeal, the Petitioner submits additional evidence that it asserts overcomes the grounds of denial. 
Upon de novo review, we will sustain the appeal. 
A petition for a professional must include evidence that a beneficiary has a U.S. bachelor's degree or 
a foreign equivalent degree. 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C). A petitioner must also establish a 
beneficiary's possession, by a petition's priority date, of all the labor certification requirements.' 
Here, the accompanying labor certification states the minimum requirements of the offered position 
of medical research coordinator as a U.S. bachelor's degree, or a foreign equivalent degree, in 
medical technology or nursing. 
The Petitioner submitted a copy of a diploma and corresponding transcripts indicating the 
Beneficiary's attainment of a bachelor of science degree in medical technology in 1988. The 
Petitioner also provided an independent evaluation of the Beneficiary's foreign educational 
credentials. The evaluation concludes that her four-year, Filipino degree equates to a U.S. bachelor 
of science degree in medical technology. The Director discounted the evaluation, noting that it did 
not describe the evaluator's qualifications. An evaluation of foreign educational credentials 
constitutes expert testimony. See Maller of Caron lnt'/, Inc., 19 l&N Dec. 791, 795 (Comm'r 1988) 
1 This pelition's priority date is May 6, 2013, the date 'the Department of Labor accepted the accompanying labor 
certification application for processing. See 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(d) (explaining how to determine a petition's priority date). 
Maller of M-M-R-
(finding that petrllon adjudicators may consider statements from universities, professional 
organizations, or other sources as expert testimony) 2 
On appeal, the Petitioner submits documentation describing the evaluator's qualifications and 
provides two new evaluations. The new evaluations describe the qualifications of their respective 
evaluators and reach the same conclusion as the first evaluation. Thus, as required for the offered 
position and the requested classification, the record on appeal establishes the Beneficiary's 
possession, by the petition's priority date, of a bachelor's degree in an acceptable field of study. We 
will therefore withdraw the Director's contrary finding. 
A petitioner must also demonstrate its continuing ability to pay a proffered wage, from a petition's 
priority date until a beneficiary obtains lawful permanent residence. 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(g)(2). 
Evidence of ability to pay must include copies of annual reports, federal income tax returns, or 
audited financial statements. /d. Here, the labor certification states the proffered wage of the 
offered position of medical research coordinator as $63,690 a year. As previously noted, the 
petition's priority date is May 6, 2013. As of the appeal's tiling, required evidence of the 
Petitioner's ability to pay in 2017 was not yet available. We will therefore consider its ability to pay 
only from 2013 through 2016. 
USCIS records indicate the Petitioner's temporary employment of the Beneficiary in nonimmigrant 
visa status since 2009. The Petitioner submitted copies of IRS Forms W-2, Wage and Tax 
Statements, indicating that it paid the Beneficiary $31,200 in 2013 and 2014, and $43,820.40 in 
2015. These amounts do not equal or exceed the annual proffered wage of $63,690. Based solely on 
the Petitioner's payments to the Beneficiary, the record therefore does not establish the Petitioner's 
ability to pay the proffered wage. Nevertheless, we credit the Petitioner's payments to the 
Beneficiary. It need only establish its ability to pay the annual differences between the pro!Tered 
wage and the wages paid, or $32,490 in 2013 and 2014, and $19,869.60 in 2015. The Petitioner did 
not submit evidence of its payments to the Beneficiary in 2016. It must therefore demonstrate its 
ability to pay the full proffered wage that year. 
As of the Director's decision, the record contained copies of only the first pages of the Petitioner's 
federal income tax returns for 2013 through 2015. The tax returns reflected sufficient net income in 
2013 to pay the difference between the proffered wage and the wages paid, but insufficient net 
income to pay the differences in 2014 and 2015. The incomplete returns Jacked information to 
calculate the Petitioner's net current assets. 
On appeal, however. the Petitioner submits copies of its full tax returns from 2013 through 2016. 
The returns reflect sufficient net current assets to pay the differences between the proffered wage 
and the wages paid in 2014 and 2015. The 2016 tax returns also reflect sufficient net current assets 
2 To assess the reliability of an evaluatio~·s conclusion, USC IS must therefore consider an evaluator's qualifications to 
issue the opinion. See Mauer of D-R-. 25 I&N Dec. 445, 460 n. 13 (BIA 201 I) (explaining that evidentiary weight 
afforded expct1 testimony depends, in part, on the extent of the expert's qualifications). 
2 
Mauer of M-M-R-
to pay the full proffered wage that year. Thus, the record on appeal establishes the Petitioner's 
ability to pay the proffered wage. 
The record on appeal establishes the Beneficiary's possession of the minimum education required 
for the offered position and the requested classification. The Petitioner has also demonstrated its 
ability to pay the proffered wage from the petition's priority date onward. 3 
ORDER: The appeal is sustained. 
Cite as Maller oflv!-iv!-R-, ID#.l264437 (AAO Apr. 24, 2018) 
'The Director also concluded that. contrary to the instructions on the Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. 
the Petitioner did not list the Beneficiary's last country of permanent residence abroad or the contact information of the 
form's signatory. See 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(a)(l) (incorporating form instructions into the regulations). On appeal, however, 
the Petitione(provides the missing information. · 
3