sustained H-1B Case: Accounting

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
20 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Rrn. A3042 
Washington, DC 20529 
U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
> 
lie FILE: WAC 03 090 50031 Office: CALIFORNIA SERVICE CENTER ~ateOcT 2 8 z@s 
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PETITION: Petition for a Nonimrnigrant Weker Pursuant to Section lOl(a)(lS)(H)(i)(b) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. $ 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, Director 
Administrative Appeals Office 
WAC 03 090 5003 1 
Page 2 
DISCUSSION. The service center director denied the nonirnrnigrant visa petition. The matter is now on 
appeal before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO). The appeal will be sustained. The petition will be 
approved. 
The petitioner is an entrepreneurial company engaged in multiple lines of business. It seeks to employ 
the beneficiary as an accountant and to classify her as a nonirnmigrant 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 1101 
(a)( 15)(H)(i)(b). 
The director denied the petition on the ground that the proffered position does not qualify 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. 5 214.2(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 
I 
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. 
3 214.2(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 (1) Form 1-129 and supporting documentation; (2) the 
director's request for evidence (RFE); (3) the petitioner's response to the RFE; (4) the notice of decision; 
and (5) Form I-290B, an appeal brief, and supporting materials. The AAO reviewed the record in its 
entirety before issuing its decision. 
WAC 03 090 5003 1 
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In Form 1-129 and an accompanying letter the petitioner described itself as an entrepreneurial company 
engaged in multiple business activities involving the development and management of real estate assets. 
Since its establishment in 1989, the petitioner explains, it has partnered with two other companies in real -. property investments, including a partnership wit Ltd. that owns a 456-acre 
pistachio orchard in which the petitioner manages the farmi& op;ration, quality control, and accounting. 
Since 1994, the petitioner states, it has been increasingly involved in market research and development 
activities associated with the formation of agricultural and real estate development partnerships. During 
the 1990s the petitioner states that it also had business activities in other markets such as sports products 
and medical products. According to the petitioner, it is constantly receiving new business proposals, 
which lead to new accounts requiring the services of a part-time (20 hoursfweek) in-house accountant. 
The beneficiary is qualified for the proffered position, the petitioner states, by virtue of her bachelor of 
science in business administration, with a major in accounting, and nearly twenty years of experience in 
accounting and finance in the Philippines. 
In response to the RFE the petitioner listed the position's duties and responsibilities of the proffered 
position as follows: 
Directs the financial affairs of the company and prepares financial analyses of operations, 
including interim and final financial statements with supporting schedules, for the guidance 
of management. 
Assists the President in the formulation of financial plans, goals and policies and gives advice 
on short-term and long-term financial objectives and actions. 
Maintains the company's system of accounts and keeps books and records on dl company 
transactions and assets. 
Develops, analyzes and interprets statistical and accounting information in order to appraise 
operating results in terms of profitability, performance against budget and other matters 
bearing on the fiscal soundness and operating effectiveness of the company. 
Assists the President in establishing major economic objectives and policies for the company 
and prepares reports that outline the company's financial position in the areas of income, 
expenses and earnings based on past, present and future operations. 
Develops budgets and prepares periodic reports that compare budgeted costs to actual costs. 
Analyzes and reports variances for the purpose of giving advice to the President. 
Assembles spreadsheets and draw charts and graphs to be used by the President to illustrate 
technical reports to interested clients and/or investors. 
Responsible for tax planning and compliance with all federal, state and local corporate, 
payroll and other applicable taxes. 
Assists the President in the preparation of project feasibility studies, particularly in the area of 
financial projections. 
Analyzes financial information to produce forecasts of business, industry and economic 
conditions for use by the President in making investment decisions. 
Analyzes business operations, trends, costs, revenues, and financial obligations in order to 
make recommendations to the President regarding tax strategies as well as the advantages and 
disadvantages of certain business decisions and transactions. 
Responsible for all financial procedures and records, including (a) maintenance of checking 
accounts and invoices, (b) subsidiary ledgers, cash disbursements, cash receipts, accounts 
WAC 03 090 5003 1 
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payable, payroll summary, accounts receivable, and journal entries for adjustments to the 
general ledger, (c) current and capital fund general ledgers, trial balances, financial reports 
and balance sheets, and (d) preparing monthly reports that include bank reconciliations and 
cash flow reports. 
Monitors and controls the flow of cash receipts and disbursements to meet the business and 
investment needs of the firm; evaluates the need for procurement of funds and makes 
appropriate recommendations to the President. 
Develops and maintains relationships with banking, insurance, lending institutions and the 
financial community in general to facilitate the company's financial activities. 
Responsible for formulating and implementing a more systematic and smooth financial 
delivery system for the company. 
Performs other administrative functions as may be assigned by the President. 
With its response to the RFE the petitioner submitted substantial additional documentation addressing the 
director's various evidentiary requests. The materials included, among other items, a company profile, 
some photographs of the petitioner's business offices and agricultural projects, its office lease, business 
licenses, federal and state corporate income tax filings for 2002, an organizational chart, documents 
relating to a new business venture wit- LLC, evidence of its previous use of 
accountant services, and documentation of the beneficiary's educational background. 
In his decision the director found that while some of the duties of the proffered position involve 
accounting tasks, a significant amount of the beneficiary's time would be spent performing the duties of a 
bookkeeping, accounting, or auditing clerk, as described in the Department of Labor (D0L)'s 
Occupational Outlook Handbook (Handbook), positions which do not require a baccalaureate or higher 
degree. In the director's view, there were two reasons the proffered position could not be classified as an 
accountant position. The first was that the petitioner does not have the organizational complexity to 
warrant an accountant, particularly considering the fact that its organizational chart listed no 
bookkeeping, accounting, or auditing clerk currently employed by the company. The director concluded 
that duties normally performed by accounting, bookkeeping, and auditing clerks "would clearly be a part 
of the duties of the position offered" and that any duties normally performed by an accountant "would 
only be incidental to the primary duties." The second reason the proffered position could not be classified 
as an accountant, according to the director, was that the petitioner is not engaged in the type of business 
for which an accountant would typically be required for any significant length of time. In particular, the 
petitioner's business operations were not of sufficient scale or complexity to require the services of a full- 
or part-time employee performing sophisticated accounting functions. The director concluded that the 
record failed to establish that the duties of the proffered position could not be performed by an 
experienced individual with a less than baccalaureate level of educational training. The director also 
determined that the petitioner failed to show that it had previously required a baccalaureate or higher 
degree in a specific specialty for the position, that such a degree or its equivalent is common to the 
petitioner's industry in parallel positions among similar organizations, or that the duties of the position 
are so specialized and complex that they require baccalaureate or higher level knowledge to perform 
them. Accordingly, the director held that the proffered position did not qualify as a specialty occupation 
under any of the criteria enumerated at 8 C.F.R. 5 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A). 
On appeal the petitioner asserts that the director erred in finding that the duties of the proffered position 
are primarily those of a bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerk, rather than those of an accountant. 
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With regard to the issue of who performs the company's bookkeeping functions, the petitioner's 
president states that his wife has performed such functions since 
1996, and adds that she does not have the requisite knowledge to perform the more complex duties of an 
accountant. According to -is wife is not on the coppany's payroll but derives a benefit 
from her work through the profits earned by her husband. has submitted a letter in 
support of the appeal confmYnp that she is the wife oit she has worked as the 
petitioner's bookkeeper since October 1996, that she is not a salaried employee but benefits from the 
profits earned by her husband, and that she is reimbursed for any expenses she incurs. M- 
lists her bookkeeping duties as follows: 
Maintain checking accounts and prepare checks for invoices. 
Calculate, prepare, and issue bills, invoices, account statements, and other financial 
statements. 
Prepare and maintain subsidiary ledgers, cash disbursements, cash receipts, accounts payable, 
payroll summary, accounts receivable, and journal entries for adjustments to the general 
ledger. 
Prepare and maintain current and capital fund general ledgers, trial balances, financial reports 
and balance sheets. 
Prepare monthly reports that include bank reconciliation and cash flow reports. 
The petitioner's president asserts that the evidence of record establishes its past practice of hiring 
individuals with baccalaureate degrees in accounting for the proffered position. The AAO notes that 
documentation previously submitted by the petitioner includes evidence that the petitioner utilized the 
services of an accountant, from June through September 2002 (the petitioner asserts that 
~rervices - lasted until November 2002) - i.e., shortly before the instant petition was filed in 
January 2003. The resume faxed to the petitioner in June 2002 by AppleOne Employment Services 
indicates that -d fourteen years of professional experience in accounting and a bachelor of 
science degree in business administration - accounting from California State University in Carson, 
California. The record shows that the petitioner paid the employment service (and late- 
for Mr- services, so he was not a salaried employee. The AAO notes that the petitioner's federal 
tax return for 2002 lists accounting expenses of $10,463. (The petitioner indicates in Form 1-129 that it 
inteilds to pay the beneficiary $17.62/hour for twenty hours of work a week, which extrapolates to 
approximately $18,325/year.) 
The petitioner's president also reiterates his contention that the petitioner is engaged in numerous 
business ventures involving agricultural and other real estate assets, pointing to previously submitted - - 
evidence of two of its current projects wit Ltd. Ad -LC. The 
petitioner states that it utilizes the employed by its business partners, 
who do not, therefore, appear on the petitioner's payroll. The scale of its business operations, the 
petitioner asserts, requires the services of a full-fledged accountant. 
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 
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individuals in the industry attest that such firms "routinely employ and recruit only degreed individuals." 
See Shanti, lnc. v. Reno, 36 F.Supp. 2d 1151, 1165 (D.Minn. 1999) (quoting Hird/Blaker Corp. v. Sava, 
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, Inc. v. Reno, id., at 1165-66. 
The AAO determines that the duties of the proffered position accord with the Handbook's description of a 
management accountant. That description reads, in pertinent part, as follows: 
Management accountants - also called cost, managerial, industrial, corporate, or private 
accountants - record and analyze the financial information of the companies for which 
they work. Other responsibilities include budgeting, performance evaluation, cost 
management and asset management. Usually, management accountants are part of 
executive teams involved in strategic planning or new-product development. 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. 
Handbook, 2004-05 edition, at pages 68-69. Based on the entire record - including documentation of the 
petitioner's business ventures, the detailed company profile, the particular accounting duties described in 
the proffered position, and documentation of the petitioner's previous utilization of an accountant with a 
baccalaureate degree in accounting - the AAO determines that the beneficiary will be performing the 
services of an accountant in the proffered position. 
The Handbook states that most accountant positions require at least a bachelor's degree in accounting or a 
related field. See id. at 70. Th?: AAO concludes that the proffered position qualifies as a specialty 
occupation under 8 C.F.R. 5 214.2 (h)(4)(iii)(A)(I). 
As provided in 8 C.F.R. 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(C), the beneficiary must meet one of the following criteria to 
qualify to perform services in a specialty occupation: 
(I) Hold a- United States baccalaureate or higher degree required by the specialty 
occupation from an accredited college or university; 
(2) Hold a foreign degree determined to be equivalent to a United States 
baccalaureate or higher degree required by the specialty occupation from an 
accredited college or university; 
(3) Hold an unrestricted State license, registration or certification which authorizes 
him or her to fully practice the specialty occupation and be immediately engaged 
in that specialty in the state of intended employment; or 
(4) Have education, specialized training, and/or progressively responsible experience 
that is equivalent to completion of a United States baccalaureate or higher degree 
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in the specialty occupation, and have recognition of expertise in the specialty 
through progressively responsible positions directly related to the specialty. 
The record shows that the beneficiary earned a bachelor of science in business administration with a 
major in accounting at the University of the East in Manila, the Philippines in March 1991. According to 
a report from an educational credentials evaluation service in California, the beneficiary's degree is 
equivalent to a bachelor of science in business administration with a concentration in accounting from an 
accredited U.S. college or university. Based on the foregoing documentation, the AAO determines that 
the beneficiary is qualified to perform the services of the pertinent specialty occupation - an accountant - 
in accordance with 8 C.F.R. $214.2(h)(4)(iii)(C)(2). 
Thus, the record establishes that the proffered position is a specialty occupation and that the beneficiary is 
qualified to perform the services of that occupation. 
ORDER: The appeal is sustained. The petition is approved.