dismissed H-1B Case: Accounting

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
20 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Rm. 3000 
Washington, DC 20529 
U. S. Citizenship 
and Imigration 
PUBLIC COPY 
FILE: LIN 05 161 53468 Office: NEBRASKA SERVICE CENTER Date: 2 8 2006 
IN RE: Petitioner: - 
Beneficiary: - 
PETITION: Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker Pursuant to Section lOl(a)(lS)(H)(i)(b) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 5 1 lOl(a)(lS)(H)(i)(b) 
ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: 
INSTRUCTIONS: 
This is the decision of the Administrative Appeals Office in your case. All materials have been returned to 
the office that originally decided your case. Any further inquiry must be made to that office. 
Robert P. Wiemann, Chief 
Administrative Appeals Office 
LIN 05 161 53468 
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DISCUSSION: The service center director denied the nonimmigrant visa petition. The matter is now on appeal 
before the Administrative Appeals Ofice (AAO). The appeal will be dismissed. The petition will be denied. 
The petitioner is a wholesale distributor of wrist identification bands. It seeks to employ the beneficiary as an 
accountant and to classify her as a nonimrnigrant worker in a specialty occupation pursuant to section 
lOl(a)(l5)(H)(i)(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 U.S.C. 5 1 lOl(a)(lS)(H)(i)(b). 
The director denied the petition on the ground that the record failed to establish that the proffered position 
qualifies as a specialty occupation. 
Section 214(i)(l) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 5 1184(i)(l), defines the term "specialty occupation" as an occupation 
that requires: 
(A) theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge, and 
(B) attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree in the specific specialty (or its equivalent) 
as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the United States. 
As provided in 8 C.F.R. 3 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A), to qualify as a specialty occupation the position must meet one 
of the following criteria: 
(I) A baccalaureate or higher degree or its equivalent is normally the minimum 
requirement for entry into the particular position; 
(2) The degree requirement is common to the industry in parallel positions among 
similar organizations or, in the alternative, an employer may show that its particular 
position is so complex or unique that it can be performed only by an individual with a 
degree; 
(3) The employer normally requires a degree or its equivalent for the position; or 
(4) The nature of the specific duties is so specialized and complex that knowledge 
required to perform the duties is usually associated with the attainment of a 
baccalaureate or higher degree. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) interprets the term "degree" in the criteria at 8 C.F.R. 
5 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A) to mean not just any baccalaureate or higher degree, but one in a specific specialty that is 
directly related to the proffered position. 
The record of proceeding before the AAO contains (I) Form 1-129 and supporting documentation; (2) the 
director's request for evidence (FWE); (3) the petitioner's response to the FWE; (4) the director's decision; and 
(5) Form I-290B and supporting materials. The AAO reviewed the record in its entirety before issuing its 
decision. 
The petitioner is an owner-operated wholesale distributor of wrist identification bands, established in 1988, 
with gross annual receipts of approximately $400,000. The petitioner states that it has 600 accounts 
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worldwide and customers in 58 cities. The petitioner seeks to employ the beneficiary as an accountant for 
three years at an annual salary between $35,000 and $45,000. The duties of the proffered position, and the 
percentage of the beneficiary's time required to perform each duty, are listed by the petitioner as follows: 
15% Analyze business operations, trends, costs, revenues, project future revenues and expenses, 
and provide advice. 
10% Develop, maintain and analyze budgets. Prepare and analyze periodic reports that compare 
budgeted costs to actual and projected costs. 
20% Prepare, examine, and analyze accounting records, financial statements and other financial 
reports to assess accuracy and conformance to reporting standards. Develop, implement, and 
document record keeping and accounting systems, making use of current computer 
technology. 
30% Establish tables of accounts, assign entries to proper accounts, maintain chart of accounts. 
Prepare, examine, and analyze general ledger journal entries, trial balances, depreciation 
schedules, accounts payable, accounts receivable, billing systems, and other financial data. 
15% Report to the Board of Directors and President of [the petitioner] regarding the finances of the 
corporation and recommend, develop and maintain solutions to business and financial 
problems. 
5% Establish internal accounting controls and international accounts receivable. 
5% Prepare and analyze financial records and financial reports for the preparation of [the 
petitioner's] taxes. 
According to the petitioner, the minimum educational requirement for the proffered position is a bachelor's 
degree in accounting or the equivalent. The beneficiary is qualified for the position, the petitioner declares, 
by virtue of her bachelor's degree in public accounting from the Universidad Santa Maria in Venezuela, 
awarded on November 4,2000. 
In his decision the director found that the duties of the proffered position reflected those of a bookkeeper or 
accounting clerk, as described in the Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook (Handbook), 
and quoted information in the Handbook indicating that a baccalaureate or higher degree is not normally 
required for entry into such positions. The evidence of record did not show that a bachelor's degree 
requirement in a specific specialty is common to the petitioner's industry in parallel positions among similar 
organizations, the director determined, that the performance of the proffered position or its particular duties is 
so complex, unique, or specialized as to require a baccalaureate or higher degree, or equivalent knowledge, or 
that the employer has a history of requiring a degree or its equivalent for the position. The director concluded 
that the proffered position does not qualify as a specialty occupation under any of the criteria enumerated at 
8 C.F.R. !j 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A). 
The petitioner filed an appeal, which was initially rejected by the director on the ground that it was not timely 
filed. Following the submission of evidence demonstrating that the late filing was due to the lack of a date on 
the service center's decision, which led the petitioner to miscalculate the 33-day appeal period, the director 
withdrew its rejection of the appeal. The appeal was thereupon forwarded to the AAO for review. 
On appeal counsel asserts that the director's denial was a mistake of fact and law. According to counsel, the 
director's mistake of fact was misunderstanding the petitioner's business needs and his mistake of law was 
LIN 05 161 53468 
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misapplying the legal requirements in determining whether the proffered position qualifies as a specialty 
occupation. No appeal brief was submitted. 
In determining whether a position meets the statutory and regulatory criteria of a specialty occupation, CIS 
routinely consults the DOL Handbook as an authoritative source of information about the duties and 
educational requirements of particular occupations. Factors typically considered are whether the Handbook 
indicates a degree is required by the industry; whether the industry's professional association has made a 
degree a minimum entry requirement; and whether letters or affidavits from firms or individuals in the 
industry attest that such firms "routinely employ and recruit only degreed individuals." See Shanti, Inc. v. 
Reno, 36 F.Supp. 2d 115 1, 1165 (D.Minn. 1999) (quoting HiraBlaker Corp. v. Suva, 712 F.Supp. 1095, 1102 
(S.D.N.Y. 1989)). CIS also analyzes the specific duties and complexity of the position at issue, with the 
Handbook's occupational descriptions as a reference, as well as the petitioner's past hiring practices for the 
position. See Shanti lnc. v. Reno, id., at 1165-66. 
According to the Handbook there are four major fields of accounting - public, management, government, and 
internal auditors - of which management accountant bears the closest resemblance to the proffered position in 
this case. As described in the Handbook, 2006-07 edition, at 70-71: 
Management accountants - also called cost, managerial, industrial, corporate, or private 
accountants - record and analyze the financial information of the companies for which they 
work. Among other responsibilities are budgeting, performance evaluation, cost management 
and asset management. Usually, management accountants are part of executive teams 
involved in strategic planning or the development of new products. They analyze and 
interpret the financial information that corporate executives need to make sound business 
decisions. They also prepare financial reports for nonmanagement groups, including 
stockholders, creditors, regulatory agencies, and tax authorities. Within accounting 
departments, they may work in various areas including financial analysis, planning and 
budgeting and cost accounting. 
Most accounting positions require at least a bachelor's degree in accounting or a related field, as indicated in 
the Handbook, id. at 71. The Handbook also states, however, that some junior accounting positions require 
less than a baccalaureate degree: 
Many graduates of junior colleges and business and correspondence schools, as well as 
bookkeepers and accounting clerks who meet the education and experience requirements set 
by their employers, can obtain junior accounting positions and advance to positions with 
more responsibilities by demonstrating their accounting skills on the job. 
Id. Thus, although most accounting positions require a baccalaureate degree in accounting or a related 
specialty, it is possible to enter some positions in the occupational field with an educational background of 
less than baccalaureate level andlor experience as a bookkeeper or accounting clerk. 
The Handbook's subsection "Sources of Additional Information" refers the reader to the Internet site for the 
Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation (ACAT), the professional organization that provides the 
LIN 05 161 53468 
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credentials Accredited Business Accountant@/Accredited Business Advisors@ (ABA).' That Internet site 
reveals that a degree in accounting or a related specialty is not required for ABA accreditation. Eligibility for 
the eight-hour comprehensive examination for the ABA credential requires three years of "verifiable 
experience in accounting, taxation, financial services, or other field requiring a practical and theoretical 
knowledge of the subject matter covered on the ACAT Comprehensive Examination." "Up to two" of the 
required years of work experience "may be satisfied through college credit." 
The occupation of bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks is described as follows in the Handbook, 
2006-07 edition, at 434: '3 
Bookkeeping, accoufiting, and auditing clerks are an organization's financial recordkeepers. 
They update and maintain one or more accounting records, including those which tabulate 
expenditures, receipts, accounts payable and receivable, and profit and loss. They represent a 
wide range of skills and knowledge from full-charge bookkeepers who can maintain an entire 
company's books to accounting clerks who handle specific accounts. All of these clerks 
make numerous computations each day and increasingly must be comfortable using 
computers to calculate and record data. 
In small establishments, bookkeeping clerks handle all financial transactions and 
recordkeeping. They record all transactions, post debits and credits, produce financial 
statements, and prepare reports and summaries for supervisors and managers. Bookkeepers 
also prepare bank deposits by compiling data from cashiers, verifying and balancing receipts, 
and sending cash, checks, or other forms of payment to the bank. They also may handle 
payroll, make purchases, prepare invoices, and keep track of overdue accounts. 
In large offices and accounting departments, accounting clerks have more specialized tasks . . 
. such as accounts payable . . . or accounts receivable . . . . Entry-level accounting clerks post 
details of transactions, total accounts, and compute interest charges. They also may monitor 
loans and accounts, to ensure that payments are up to date. 
More advanced accounting clerks may total, balance, and reconcile billing vouchers; ensure 
the completeness and accuracy of data on accounts; and code documents according to 
company procedures . . . . 
' At its Internet site (http://www.nsacct.org/acat.asp), the National Society of Accountants describes ACAT 
as follows: 
The Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation (ACAT) is an independent 
accrediting and monitoring organization affiliated with the National Society of Accountants. 
ACAT accredits professionals in independent practice who have demonstrated measurable 
knowledge of the principles, practices, and ethical standards of accounting, taxation, 
information technology and related financial services. 
The ACAT Internet site (http://www.acatcredentials.org/index.html) states that the examination tests 
"proficiency in financial accounting, reporting, statement preparation, taxation, business consulting services, 
business law. and ethics." 
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Auditing clerks verify records of transactions posted by other workers. They check figures, 
postings, and documents to ensure that they are correct, mathematically accurate, and 
properly coded. They also correct or note errors for accountants or other workers to adjust . . 
. . . . 
[Dlemand for full-charge bookkeepers is expected to increase, because they are called upon 
to do much of the work of accountants, as well as perform a wider variety of financial 
transactions, from payroll to billing. Certified bookkeepers and those with several years of 
accounting or bookkeeper experience will have the best job prospects [emphasis added]. 
According to the Handbook, a two-year associate's degree in business or accounting is often required for 
bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerk positions. See id. at 435. A four-year bachelor's degree is not 
required for entry-level positions, the Handbook indicates, though many such degree-holders accept bookkeeping 
and accounting clerk positions to get into the field or a particular company with the aim of being promoted to 
professional or managerial positions. See id. 
In determining the nature of a particular position, and whether it qualifies as a specialty occupation, the duties 
that will actually be performed are dispositive, not the title of the position. The petitioner must show that the 
duties of the position normally require a degree in a specialty field. The critical issue is not the employer's 
self-imposed standard, but whether the position actually requires the theoretical and practical application of a 
body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of a baccalaureate or higher degree in the specific 
specialty as a minimum for entry into the occupation. Ct Defensor v. Meissner, 201 F.3d 384, 387-88 (5th 
Cir. 2000). 
The record in this case does not establish that the proffered position requires a baccalaureate degree in 
accounting or a related specialty. While the position may include some duties that involve accounting 
functions, the AAO is not persuaded that they are at a level of specialization or complexity that they require 
the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a baccalaureate or 
higher degree in accounting or a related specialty field. The petitioner's federal income tax returns for 2002 
and 2003 record "legal and accounting" expenses of $1,815 in 2002 and $5,912 in 2003 - figures which do 
not support the petitioner's statement that it will employ the beneficiary as a full-time baccalaureate level 
accountant. The petitioner's gross annual income for the years 2002 and 2003, as evidenced by the tax 
returns in the record, was just under $400,000. While the size of the company does not, in and of itself, 
determine a company's need for an accountant, its income level and scale of operations does have a direct and 
substantial bearing on the scope of the duties the beneficiary would perform in the proffered position. The 
responsibilities associated with a company of modest income, like the petitioner, differ significantly from the 
responsibilities associated with an annual income in the millions, or tens of millions, or from the 
responsibilities of performing accounting work for multiple clients. The AAO notes that an associate's 
degree provides basic knowledge about accounting that can be applied on the job by bookkeeping, 
accounting, and auditing clerks. 3 
According to the website for Skyline College, a community college located in San Mateo, California, 
(www.skvlinecollege.net), an associate's degree in business or accounting would involve learning the fundamentals 
about financial accounting principles and concepts, balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, the GAAP, 
forecasting, budgeting, cost accounting, and break even analysis, as well as developing and operating a computerized 
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Based on the evidence of record, and consistent with the director's decision, the AAO determines that the 
duties of the proffered position may be performed by an individual with less than a baccalaureate level 
education in accounting such as a junior accountant or a bookkeeper, as described in the DOL Handbook. A 
baccalaureate or higher degree is not the normal minimum requirement for entry into such a position. Since 
junior accountants and bookkeepers do not require a baccalaureate degree in accounting or a related specialty, 
the proffered position does not meet the first alternative criterion of a specialty occupation at 8 C.F.R 
5 2 14.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(l). 
As for the second alternative criterion of a specialty occupation, at 8 C.F.R. 5 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(2), there is 
no evidence in the record that a bachelor's degree requirement in accounting or a related specialty is common 
to the petitioner's industry in parallel positions among similar organizations, as required for the proffered 
position to qualify as a specialty occupation under the first prong of 8 C.F.R. 3 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(2). Nor 
does the record establish that the proffered position is so complex or unique that it can only be performed by 
an individual with a bachelor's degree in accounting or a related specialty, as required for the position to 
qualify as a specialty occupation under the second prong of 8 C.F.R. 5 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(2). The proffered 
position is not unique, and the record does not establish that the job is so complex that it requires a 
baccalaureate degree in accounting or a related specialty. 
With respect to the third alternative criterion of a specialty occupation, the proffered position is newly created 
and the petitioner has no hiring history for it. Accordingly, the petitioner cannot demonstrate that it normally 
requires a bachelor's degree in a specific specialty or its equivalent for the position, as required for it to 
qualify as a specialty occupation under 8 C.F.R. 3 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(3). 
Lastly, the proffered position does not meet the fourth alternative criterion of a specialty occupation, at 
8 C.F.R. 5 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(4), because the record does not establish that the duties of the position are so 
specialized and complex that the knowledge required to perform them is usually associated with a 
baccalaureate or higher degree in a specific specialty. Though the petitioner states that it has over 600 
accounts worldwide, four foreign distribution points, and customers in 58 cities, the record does not establish 
that the duties of the position in relation to its business could only be performed by an individual with 
baccalaureate level knowledge in accounting. The AAO concludes that the duties of the proffered position 
could be performed by an individual with less than baccalaureate level knowledge in accounting or a related 
specialty. 
Thus, the proffered position does not meet any of the qualifying criteria of a specialty occupation enumerated 
at 8 C.F.R. 5 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A). The petitioner has not established that the beneficiary will be coming 
temporarily to the United States to perform services in a specialty occupation, as required under section 
101 (a)( lS)(H)(i)(b) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 5 1 lOl(a)(lS)(H)(i)(b). 
The petitioner bears the burden of proof in these proceedings. See section 291 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 5 1361. The 
petitioner has not sustained that burden. Accordingly, the AAO will not disturb the director's decision denying 
the petition. 
accounting system using tools such as QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro, or Peachtree, an integrated commercial accounting 
software package that is used to review, differentiate, and interpret accounting concepts and data in a multitude of 
business situations. 
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ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. The petition is denied.