dismissed H-1B Case: Fine Arts And Furniture

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
20 Mass. Ave., N.W., Rm. 3000 
Washington, DC 20529 
U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
FILE: 
IN RE: 
SRC 04 243 50366 Office: TEXAS SERVICE CENTER Date: Jut 2 6 2006 
Petitioner: 
Beneficiary: 
PETITION: Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker Pursuant to Section 101 (a)(lS)(H)(i)(b) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. $ 1 l Ol(aX1 S)(H)(i)(b) 
ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: 
INSTRUCTIONS: 
This is the decision of the Administrative Appeals Office in your case. All documents have been returned to 
the office that originally decided your case. Any further inquiry must be made to that office. 
Administrative Appe 
SRC 04 243 50366 
Page 2 
DISCUSSION: The service center director denied the nonimmigrant visa petition and the matter is now 
before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) on appeal. The appeal will be dismissed. The petition will 
be denied. 
The petitioner is an fine arts and furniture dealer that seeks to employ the beneficiary as a purchasing agent 
and to classify him as a nonimmigrant worker in a specialty occupation pursuant to section 
lOl(a)(lS)(H)(i)(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 U.S.C. 3 1 lOI(a)(lS)(H)(i)(b). 
The director denied the petition on the grounds that the petitioner failed to establish that the proposed position 
meets the definition of specialty occupation at 8 C.F.R. 9 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A) and that the beneficiary is not 
qualified to perform the duties of any specialty occupation. On February 1, 2005, counsel submitted a timely 
Form 1-290B and indicated that he would send a brief and? additional evidence to the AAO within 30 days. 
As of this date, the AAO has not received a brief or a y additional evidence. Therefore, the record is 
complete. 
 f 
Section 214(i)(l) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 8 11 84(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. 
Pursuant to 8 C.F.R. 5 2 14.2(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. 
$214,2(h)(4)(iii)(A) to mean not just any b~helor's or higher degree, but one in a specific field of study that 
is directly related to the proposed position. 
The record of proceeding before the AAO contains: (1) Form 1-129 and supporting documentation; (2) the 
director's request for additional evidence (RFE); (3) the petitioner's response to the RFE; (4) the director's 
denial letter; and (5) Form I-290B with supporting documentation. The AAO reviewed the record in its 
entirety before issuing its decision. 
SRC 04 243 50366 
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The petitioner seeks the beneficiary's services as a purchasing agent. Evidence of the beneficiary's duties 
includes Form 1-129 with attachments and the petitioner's response to the RFE. According to this evidence, 
the beneficiary's duties would include: coordinating activities involved with the procurement of fine 
furniture, antiques, and the raw materials needed in order to run the petitioner's custom design of furniture 
and accessories; reviewing requisitions as well as conferring with vendors to obtain raw material information, 
such as price, availability, and delivery schedule; selecting fine furniture and antiques for purchase by 
observing and examining the goods; estimating value according to knowledge of market prices; maintaining 
manual and/or computerized procurement records, such as goods purchased, costs, delivery, quality, and 
inventories. The petitioner stated that the position requires a bachelor's degree or its equivalent in business 
administration, marketing, or a related fidd. 
The director concluded that the record contained no evidence showing that the proposed position requires the 
attainment of a bachelor's degree or higher in a specific specialty. The director also found that, while the 
beneficiary was qualified for the job, the job itself was nota specialty occupation and the beneficiary's 
education and work experience were not the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree. 
On appeal, counsel asserts that the director failed to consider the two expert credentials evaluations. Counsel 
further asserts that the director did not consider the Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook 
(Handbook) and the other job ads submitted when deciding that the proposed position was not a specialty 
occupation. 
The petitioner need only satisfy one of the criteria at 8 C.F.R. 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A) to establish that a position is 
a specialty occupation. Upon a thorough review, the AAO concludes that the petitioner has failed to establish 
that its proposed purchasing agent position meets any of the four criteria outlined in 8 C.F.R. 
4 2 14.2(h)(4)(iii)(A). Therefore, the proposed position is not a specialty occupation. 
To determine whether a position qualifies as a specialty oc'cupation, CIS looks beyond the title of the position 
and determines, from a review of the duties and any supporting evidence, if the position requires the 
theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of a 
bachelor's degree in a specific field of study as the minimum for entry into the occupation. 
The AAO routinely consults the Handbook for its iiiformation about the duties of particular occupations. 
Based on the petitioner's description and a thorough review of the Handbook, the AAO finds that the 
proposed position closely reflects the duties of purchasing agents, who, according to the Handbook, buy the 
goods and services a company needs to either reselI to customers or for the establishment's own use. They 
also consider price, quality, availability, reliability, and technical support when choosing suppliers and 
merchandise. They try to get the best deal for their company, bylstudying sales records and inventory levels of 
current stock, identifying foreign and domestic suppliers, and keeping abreast of changes affecting both the 
supply of, and demand for, needed products and materials. According to the petitioner's description, the 
beneficiary will coordinate "activities involved with the procurement of fine furniture, antiques, and the raw 
materials needed in order to run the petitioner's custom design of furniture and accessories," confer with 
"vendors to obtain raw material information, such as price, availability, and delivery schedule," and estimate 
"value according to his knowledge of market prices." 
The petitioner fails to establish that the position is a specialty occupation under any of the criteria set forth in 
the regulations. 
SRC 04 243 50366 
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To determine whether the proposed position qualifies & a specialty occupation under the criterion at 8 C.F.R. 
214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(I) - a bachelor's or higher degree or its equivalent is normally the minimum requirement 
for entry into the particular position - the AAO turns to the Handbook's discussion of the educational 
requirements for purchasing agents. The Handbook indicates that retailers prefer, but do not require, 
applicants with college degrees. In addition, the Handbook does not specify whether those degrees are from 
2-year or 4-year colleges. Although the Handbook indicates that large stores prefer their purchasing agents to 
have degrees with a business emphasis, it does not indicate that this is normally required. As noted above, for 
a position to be considered a specialty occupation under this first criterion, a bachelor's degree in a specific 
field of study must be the normal minimum requirement for entry into the occupation. Accordingly, the 
petitioner has not established that the proposed position is a specialty occupation under this criterion. 
& 
The AAO turns next to the first alternative prong of the second criterion at 8 C.F.R. $21 4.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(2) - 
the degree requirement is common to the industry in parallel positions among similar organizations. To 
determine if a position is a specialty occupation under this criterion, CIS generally considers whether or not 
letters or affidavits from companies or individuals in the industry attest that such companies "routinely 
employ and recruit only degreed individuals." See Shti, Inc. v. Reno, 36 F. Supp. 2d 1151, 1165 (D.Minn. 
1999) (quoting HiraYBZaker Gorp. v. Sava, 7 12 F. Supp. 1095, 1 102 (S.D.N.Y. 1989)). The job 
announcements the petitioner submitted are not probative. Several of these employers only required general, 
four-year bachelor's degrees for the advertised positions. They did not specify that those bachelor's degrees 
must be in a business-related field. Also, the jobs described in these announcements are distinct from the 
instant position in several significant ways. The announcements either do not describe the job duties with 
suficient particularity to determine if they are similar to the proposed duties, or are from companies dissimilar to 
the petitioner, a fine arts and furniture dealer with four employees. Counsel asserts that the Handbook supports 
his assertion that purchasing agent positions require bachelor's degrees in a specialty field. As mentioned above, 
the Handbook says that employers prefer but do not require college degrees and that they do not require the 
degrees to be in a specifii~specialty. Therefore, the proposed position does not qualify as a specialty 
occupation under the first altethative prong at 8 C.F.R. $ 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(2). 
The AAO now turns to the criterion at 8 C.F.R. $214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(3) - the employer normally requires at 
least a bachelor's degree a+.itsnequivalent, in a specific field of study, for the position. To determine if a 
petitioner has established this criterion, the AAO generally reviews the petitioner's past employment 
practices, including the histories of those employees who previously held the position, as well as their names, 
dates of employment, and copies of their diplomas. In the instant case, the petitioner has submitted no 
evidence to establish its normal hiring practices. In the absence of an employment history for the proposed 
position, the petitioner cannot establish that its proposed position qualifies as a specialty occupation under the 
criterion at 8 C.F.R. 5 2 14.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(3). 
Finally, the AAO turns to the criteria related to the complexity, uniqueness, or specialized nature of the 
proposed position. A petitioner satisfies the second alternative prong of the criterion at 8 C.F.R. 
$ 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(2) if it establishes that a particular position is so complex or unique that it can be 
performed only by an individual with a bachelor's degree in a specific field of study. The criterion at 
8 C.F.R. $ 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A)(.I) requires a petitioner to establish that the nature of the specific duties is so 
specialized and complex that the knowledge required to perform the duties is usually associated with the 
attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree in a specific field of study. The record does not indicate that the 
proposed duties are distinguishable from those of a typical purchasing agent, an occupation the Handbook says 
can be performed by individuals with associate degrees or through advancement. 
SRC 04 243 50366 
Page 5 
No evidence contained in the record demonstrates that the proposed position is a specialty occupation. The 
petitioner has not overcome the director's decision in this regard. 
With respect to the beneficiary's qualifications, the AAO has determined that the petition cannot be approved 
on the basis that the proposed position is not a specialty occupation. Therefore, it will not address the issue of 
the beneficiary's qualifications. A beneficiary's credentials to perform a particular job are relevant only when 
a job is found to be a specialty occupation. 
The burden of proof in these proceedings rests solely with the petitioner. Section 291 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. 
3 1361. The petitioner has failed to sustain that burden and the appeal shall accordingly be dismissed. 
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed. The petition is denied.