The Petitioner, a devices and services business, seeks to employ the Beneficiary as a "Software Development Engineer In Test II (Software Engineer II)." It requests classification of the Beneficiary as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree under the second preference immigrant classification. See Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) section203(b)(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(2). This employment-based "EB-2" classification allows a U.S. employer to sponsor a ·professional with an advanced degree for lawful permanent resident status. A bachelor's degree alone does not quality as an "advanced degree," but a bachelor's degree and an additional five years of post- baccalaureate progressive experience will suffice tl.x EB-2 classification purposes.
The Director of the Nebraska Service Center denied the petition, concluding that, based on the issuance date of the Beneficiary's bachelor's degree diploma, the Beneficiary could not show, as required, a minimum of five years of post-baccalaureate experience to establish that he possesses the equivalent of an advanced degree.
On appeal, the Petitioner asserts that the Beneficiary's post-baccalaureate experience should be measured from the time he received a provisional certificate demonstrating his degree was complete and approved and not from when the diploma itself was later issued.
Upon de novo review, we will sustain the appeal.
Law
Employment-based immigration generally follows a three-step process. First, an employer must See section 212(a)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(5)(A)(i). By approving the labor certification, DOL certifies that there are insufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available for the offered position and that employing a foreign national in the position will not adversely affect the The date the labor certification is filed, in cases such as this one, is called the "priority date.'' A beneficiary must b~ eligible as of that date, and so in this case the Beneficiary must have had the five years' requisite experience by the date the labor certification was filed. obtain an approved labor certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
Matter (?fM- Corp. wages and working conditions of domestic workers similarly employed. Section 212(a)(5)(A)(i)(l)- (II) of the Act. Second, the employer may file an immigrant visa petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). See section 204 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1154. Third, if USCIS approves the petition, the foreign national may apply for an immigrant visa abroad or, if eligible, adjustment of status in the United States. See section 245 ofthe Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1255.
For this advanced degree professional position, the labor certification must provide that the job requires an advanced degree or its equivalent. See 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(4)(i). In pertinent part, Department of Homeland Security regulations define the term "advanced degree" as: "[A]ny United States academic or professional degree or a foreign equivalent degree above that of baccalaureate. A United States baccalaureate. degree or a foreign equivalent degree follovved by at least five years o f progressive experience in the specialty shall be considered the equivalent of a master's degree." 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2) (emphasis added). To be eligible for this EB-2 classification solely on the basis of a foreign degree equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree, a beneficiary must also possess five years of qualifying post-baccalaureate experience. 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(3).
Analysis
The Beneficiary possesses a bachelor's degree in engineering from in India. There is no question that this degree qualifies him for EB-2 classification and that his post-degree experience qualities as progressive experience. The only question is when the university confened the "degree" to the Beneficiary. At issue here is whether the Beneficiary's five years of experience is only measured from when he received the formal diploma itself, or earlier, when he completed all the requirements for the degree and received what is commonly termed a provisional certfficate reflecting that his degree was approved. We conclude that, based on the specific circumstances and evidence in this case, the provisional certificate constitutes the official academic record of his "degree" for purposes of calculating the five-year period ofpost-graduate experience.
Several dates are important to this case. The Beneficiary's priority date (the date the labor certification was filed) is June 24, 2014. The university issued him a provisional certificate on February 20, 2005, but he did not receive his formal diploma until June 2010. The record contains evidence of the Beneficiary's employment experience with two diflerent employers from December 12, 2005, to August 9, 2013, a period of well over five years. However, the Director held that only experience gained after the diploma was issued in June 2010 could be considered and accordingly found that the Beneficiary does not have the required five years of post-baccalaureate experience. On appeal, the Petitioner maintains that the Beneficiary did accrue the requisite five years of post-degree experience if we recognize that his degree was conferred on the earlier date of his provisional certificate, or February 20, 2005.
The statute and regulations governing the EB-2 classification speak in terms of "degrees," not diplomas. So, from the outset, it is clear that we cannot simply limit our analysis to the date on which a university confers a formal diploma. Applicable EB-2 regulations ref1ect this distinction.
Matter qfM- Corp.
For these EB-2 "bachelor plus five" petitions, the "initial evidence" rule requires submission of an "official academic record" showing the beneficiary has a foreign equivalent "degree." 8 C.F.R. 2 § 204.5(k)(3)(i)(B). An "official academic record" is not limited to a formal diploma. In fact, in the very next provision - relating to EB-2 exceptional ability petitions - the initial evidence rule expressly distinguishes between degree and diploma: "[a]n official academic record showing that the alien has a degree. diploma. certificate. or similar award from a college, university,...." 8 C.F.R. Accordingly, we must conduct a case-specific analysis to determine whether the Beneficiary has completed all substantive requirements to earn the degree and the university has approved the degree. We must 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 all of the substantive requirements for the degree were met and that the Here, the record demonstrates that, by issuance of the provisional certificate in February 2005, the Beneficiary had completed all substantive requirements of his degree and the university had in fact approved the degree. The record contains the following university documents contemporaneous with the relevant events: (1) a copy of the Beneficiary's statement of marks showing he passed the final exams; (2) a copy of the Beneficiary's provisional ceriificate issued on February 20, 2005, which states that the Beneficiary "has qualified for the Degree of B.E. (Electronics) in the Examination held in November/December 2004;" and (3) a copy of the Beneficiary's diploma dated June 15, 2010.
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), and note that it accords with the Petitioner's claim and evidence. On the matter ofprovisional certificates issued by Indian universities, AACRAO EDGE states:
See also USCIS Adjudicator's Field Manual, Appendix 22-1, Memorandum from Michael D. Cronin, Acting Associate Commissioner, USC IS HQ 70/6.2, Educational and Experience RequirementsfiJr Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) Immigrants (March 20, 2000), https://uscis.gov/ilink/docYiew/AFM/HTMLIAFM/0-0-0-I/0-0-0-26573/0-0-0- 31107.html (last visited Apr. II, 2017), ("Whether the alien beneficiary possesses the advanced degree should be demonstrated by evidence in the form of a transcript fi'om the institution that granted the advanced degree. An adjudicator must similarly consider the baccalaureate transcript....") (emphasis added).
While this provision helps clarify that the terms degree and diploma are not equivalent, we note generally that, in contrast to the advanced degree category, the EB-2 exceptional ability category is not grounded entirely in an academic award and thus its initial evidence rule is more expansive than that of the advanced degree category. 4 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. See 8 C.F.R § 204.5(k)(3) (requiring the submission of an official academic record as evidence of a beneficiary's possession of an advanced degree or equivalent of an advanced degree) AACRAO is "a nonprofit, voluntary, professional association of more than II ,000 higher education professionals who represent approximately 2,600 institutions in over 40 countries.·· http://www4.aacrao.org/centennial/about.htm (last visited Apr. II, 20 17). According to its registration page, EDGE is "a web-based resource for the evaluation of foreign § 204.5(k)(3)(ii)(A) (emphasis added). degree was in fact approved by the responsible university body.
Matter ofM- Corp.
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 ot1icial US 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.
In addition, EDGE notes that some students never receive their "final Degree Certificate" but rely on a provisional degree certificate as evidence of degree completion. !d.
Conclusion
instead
The provisional certificate, together with the statement of marks, demonstrates that the Beneficiary completed all the substantive requirements and that the university approved his degree. The final diploma here was simply a delayed formality. We find that the issuance of the provisional certificate conferred on the Beneficiary the foreign equivalent of a bachelor's degree. Applying the provisional certificate date, we also find that he obtained at least five years of qualifying post-baccalaureate experience. Accordingly, the Petitioner has established that the Beneficiary meets the minimum education and experience requirements of the labor certification and of EB-2 classification.
ORDER: The appeal is sustained.
Cite as Matter(?(M- Corp., ID# 267023 (AAO Apr. 20, 2017) educational credentials." http://edge.aacrao.org/info.php (last visited Apr. II, 20 17). · 6 See India: Provisional Degree Certificate, AACRAO, http://edge.aacrao.org/country/credential/provisional- degreecertificate (last visited Apr. I I, 20 17).