sustained EB-3 Case: Software Engineering

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
In Re : 20009575 
Appeal of Nebraska Service Center Decision 
1-140, Immigrant Petition for Professional 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date : AUG . 2, 2022 
The Petitioner, a software, services , and Internet technologies company , seeks to employ the beneficiary 
as a software engineer. 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. § l 153(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. The Director found that the 
Beneficiary did not qualify for the job offered under the terms of the labor certification because he did 
not have five years of progressive post-baccalaureate experience as of the petition 's priority date. 
On appeal, the Petitioner submits a brief and additional documentation, and contends that the date of 
the Beneficiary's baccalaureate degree should be considered the date he received a provisional degree 
certificate demonstrating that the degree requirements were complete and approved, not the later date 
when the diploma itself was issued. Based on the earlier date of the provisional certificate, the 
Petitioner asserts that the Beneficiary had his baccalaureate degree long before the petition's priority 
date, and therefore satisfied the minimum post-baccalaureate experience requirement of the labor 
certification and for classification as a professional. 
In these proceedings , it is the Petitioner's burden to establish eligibility for the requested benefit. 
Section 291 of the Act , 8 U.S .C. § 1361. Upon de nova review , we will sustain the appeal. 
I. LAW 
Immigration as a professional generally follows a three-step process. First , a prospective employer 
must apply to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for certification that: (1) there are insufficient U.S . 
workers able , willing , qualified, and available for an offered position ; and (2) the employment of a 
noncitizen in the position will not harm wages and working conditions of U.S . workers with similar 
jobs. See section 212(a)(5) of the Act, 8 U.S.C . § 1182(a)(5) . Second , an employer must submit an 
approved labor certification with an immigrant visa petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services (USCIS) . See section 204 of the Act, 8 U .S.C. § 1154. Among other things, USCIS 
determines whether a noncitizen beneficiary meets the requirements of a certified position and a 
requested immigrant visa category. Finally, if USCIS approves a petition, a designated noncitizen 
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. 
Section 203(b )(3)(A)(ii) of the Act grants preference classification to qualified immigrants who hold 
baccalaureate degrees and are members of the professions. See also 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(1)(2). 
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 alien holds a United States baccalaureate degree or a foreign equivalent degree and 
by evidence that the alien is a member of the professions. 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. 
A beneficiary must also have all the education, training, and experience specified on the labor 
certification as of the petition's priority date. See 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(b)(l), (12); Matter of Wing's Tea 
House, 16 I&N 158 (Act. Reg'l Comm'r 1977). 
II. ANALYSIS 
Here, the labor certification requires a U.S. master's degree, or foreign equivalent degree, in computer 
science, engineering, mathematics, information systems, physics or related field and 36 months of 
experience in the offered job. The Petitioner indicated that a candidate could alternatively qualify for 
the offered position with a U.S. bachelor's degree, or foreign equivalent degree, and 60 months of 
progressive post-baccalaureate software development experience formulating and analyzing software 
requirements utilizing C, C++, C# or a different high level programming language. 
The Beneficiary possesses a four-year, eight-semester Bachelor of En ineerin degree in the field of in 
Computer Science and Engineering froml I University in India. The Beneficia 
also has over seven years of work experience in software engineering with 
I linl IIndiaandl , in NewJersey,respectively. 
The record establishes that the Beneficiary's degree is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree in a field of 
study identified as acceptable on the labor certification, and that his experience qualifies as progressive 
experience within the meaning of 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2). 
In denying the petition, the Director concluded that the record did not establish the Beneficiary has the 60 
months of progressive post-baccalaureate experience required by the terms of the labor certification. 
Specifically, the Director found that only experience gained after the Beneficiary was awarded his formal 
baccalaureate degree certificate could be considered qualifying. 
The issue in this proceeding is when the Beneficiary received his degree froml I University. 
More specifically, we will explore whether the degree dates from when the Beneficiary actually received 
the formal diploma, or earlier when he completed all of the requirements for the degree and received a 
provisional certificate indicating that his degree was approved. 
2 
The Beneficiary's priority date (when the labor certification was filed) is December 20, 2013. The 
Beneficiary was issued a provisional certificate on November 27, 2004, which stated that he passed 
his final examination in June 2004 and had completed all requirements for a bachelor of engineering 
degree in computer science and engineering at !University. The Beneficiary did not receive 
his formal diploma until February 26, 2010. Prior to working for the Petitioner, the Beneficiary was 
employed byl lfrom July 15, 2005, to August 31, 2007, as a software design engineer, and by 
I I from September 3, 2007, to May 3, 2013, as a technical lead. 1 Finding that February 26, 
2010, was the date of the Beneficiary's degree, the Director concluded that the Beneficiary did not 
have five years of qualifying post-baccalaureate experience by the priority date, and was therefore 
ineligible for the job offered under the terms of the labor certification. 
On appeal, the Petitioner maintains that the Beneficiary had the requisite bachelor's degree and more 
than five years of progressive post-baccalaureate experience required by the labor certification if we 
recognize that his degree dates from his completion of all degree requirements and the issuance of the 
provisional certificate. Calculated from this earlier date rather than the date of his formal diploma, the 
Beneficiary would have had the required bachelor's degree and five years of qualifying experience 
well before his employment with I I ended in May 2013, and the priority date of December 20, 
2013. 
We conduct a case-specific analysis to determine whether, at the time a provisional degree certificate 
is issued, the individual has completed all substantive requirements to earn the degree and the 
university has approved the degree. We consider the individual nature of each university's or college's 
requirements for each program of study and each student's completion of those requirements. A 
petitioner will bear the burden to establish that a beneficiary's provisional degree certificate reflects 
that, at the time the certificate was issued, all of the substantive requirements for the degree were met 
and the degree was in fact approved by the responsible university body. 2 
Here, the record demonstrates that, by issuance of the provisional certificate on November 27, 2004, the 
Beneficiary had completed all substantive requirements and the university had in fact approved the 
degree. The record contains a copy of the Beneficiary's provisional certificate issued on November 27, 
2004, which states that the Beneficiary "has qualified for the Degree of [Bachelor of Engineering in 
Computer Science and Engineering] of this University having passed the final examination held in June 
2004." The record also contains other university documentation including a letter from the Controller of 
Examinations stating that the Beneficiary "met all the requirements for graduation for the Degree of 
Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering having passed the 8th Semester (Final) 
Examination, 2004" and a copy of the Beneficiary's transcript showing that he qualified for the Degree 
of Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering after completing eight semesters of 
coursework between December 2000, and June 2004. 
1 While not inherently implied by the job title, the Beneficiary's job duties as a technical lead for I included 
software development experience formulating and analyzing software requirements utilizing a high level programming 
language as required by the labor ceitification. 
2 Along with any other proffered evidence, petitioners must also submit a copy of a beneficiary's statement of marks or 
transcript to demonstrate years of study, and coursework completed, along with a copy of the provisional certificate. See 
8 C.F.R § 204.5(1)(3)(ii)(C) (requiring the submission of an official college or university record as evidence of a 
beneficiary's possession of a baccalaureate or foreign equivalent degree). 
3 
Finally, we have turned to information publicly available from the American Association of Collegiate 
Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) Electronic Database for Global Education (EDGE), 3 and 
note that it accords with the Petitioner's claim and evidence. On the matter of provisional certificates 
issued by Indian universities, AACRAO EDGE states: 
The Provisional Degree Certificate is evidence of completion of all requirements for the 
degree in question, the name of the degree and the date upon which it was approved by 
the responsible university governing body, and is comparable to an official U.S. academic 
transcript with a degree statement certifying completion of all requirements for the degree, 
the name of the degree and the date upon which it was approved by the academic senate 
at universities in the United States. 4 
The Petitioner maintains that the Beneficiary accrued the requisite post-degree experience if we recognize 
that his degree was conferred on the earlier date of his provisional certificate rather than from the date his 
formal diploma was issued. We may consider the provisional certificate to constitute the official 
academic record of a beneficiary's "degree" for purposes of calculating the five-year period of 
post-graduate experience, if a petitioner establishes that all of the substantive requirements for the degree 
were met and that the degree was in fact approved by the responsible university body at the time a 
provisional certificate was issued. Matter ofO-A-, Inc., Adopted Decision 2017-03 (AAO Apr. 17, 2017). 
Here, the record demonstrates that by issuance of the provisional certificate the Beneficiary had 
completed all substantive requirements of his degree and the university had in fact approved the degree. 
As such, we will consider experience gained after the date the provisional certificate was awarded as 
post-baccalaureate experience. 
We further find that the record, including additional documentary evidence submitted on appeal, 
establishes that the Beneficiary, more likely than not, has the claimed experience. Considering this 
experience as qualifying experience, in conjunction with calculating the Beneficiary's experience from 
the date of his provisional certificate, we find that the record demonstrates the Beneficiary's possession 
of the 60 months of qualifying post-baccalaureate experience required by the labor certification. 
III. CONCLUSION 
The Petitioner has established by a preponderance of the evidence that the Beneficiary has the requisite 
education and experience to qualify for the job opportunity under the terms of the labor certification 
and for classification as a professional. Therefore, we will sustain the appeal. 
ORDER: The appeal is sustained. 
3 AACRAO is "a nonprofit voluntary, professional association of more than 11,000 higher education professionals who 
represent approximately 2,600 institutions in over 40 countries." See http:// https://www.aacrao.org/who-we-are (last 
visited Aug. 2, 2022). According to its registration page, EDGE "has been the leading US resource for evaluating foreign 
educational credentials for more than 15 years." See https://www.aacrao.org/edge/about-edge (last visited Aug. 2, 2022). 
4 See India: Provisional Degree Certificate, AACRAO, https://www.aacrao.org/edge/country/credentials/credential/india 
/provisional-degree-ce11ificate (last visited Aug. 2, 2022). 
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