140 Appeals

Hi Guys - Welcome me to the I140 Denials thread.

My I140 is denied because i do not have an equivalent of US degree.

I have used foreign degree + work experience and my labor certification clearly says degree or equivalent.

Anyone in the same boat ?

I am contemplating an Appeal.

LIN031465xxxx
ND-02 April 03
EB3-RIR-CP
 
Hmm...did u get an educational evaluation done? if yes, did you submit that as well while filing your LC and I-140?
 
Yes i have submitted educational evaluations. In the evaluation ( from Morningside ) they have arrived at the 'US bachelor of science in computer information systems' by considering my bcom + mcom + 5 years of work experience. The service center is of the opinion that if the labor says 'bachelor or equivalent' then the only thing which will work is the foreign degree which is equivalent to the US degree and not a combination of foregin degree + work experience. I think my educational evaluations were bad or not as good.

Does this make any sense at all ?
 
EB2 140 filed in 2/02/
Denied in 8/02 cause the job desc. does not require Master's degree.

EB3 140 filed in 10/02
Denied in 12/02, cause the original labor was not provided.

Appealed in 01/03.
Saying the original labor is with YOU in your EB2 file. Provided the case number.
Approved in 04/03.
 
sshekher,

If the bachelor "or equivalent" degree requirement can be defined in the labor certification application, an USCIS Service Center may be more amenable to approving the petition.

For instance, the equivalent should be defined as " combination of 2 degrees and/or work experience deemed equivalent to US degree"
 
lcauser,

How do we do this now ? Is there a way to amend the LC ?

Or do i need to get a fresh LC with better terminology and file a new I140 ?
 
I found the below info on murthy.com. It looks like corrections can be made on the approved LC...

Chat User : I have got my labor approved in RIR. I do not have an MS equivalent degree, but I do have 8 years of experience. Can my I-140 be approved?

Attorney Murthy : Depending on the USCIS service center, it may or may not be possible to use experience to equate to the MS degree where the term "or equivalent" is not defined on the LC application. However, when the LC was approved, if the initial applicant who filed the ETA 750 B form was not qualified for the position, then a good attorney may be able to go back to the U.S. Department of Labor and request a correction of the job requirements on the grounds that the original applicant her/himself would not qualify for the LC approval. However, when the LC was approved, if the initial applicant who filed the ETA 750 B form was not qualified for the position, then a good attorney may be able to go back to the U.S. Department of Labor and request a correction of the job requirements on the grounds that the original applicant her/himself would not qualify for the LC approval. Such corrections are difficult to obtain, but we have been successful with many such cases all over the country since obviously the attorney made a mistake when filing the LC as the person would not qualify for her/his own job
 
hi

Does this mean to say that a foreign degree cannot be used unless if you put a or euqivalent on the LC
 
sshekher,

It looks like you need to evaluate your education credential from other institute try The TrustForte Corporation. You have master's degree (M.Com) so they may be able to evaluate to US. Masters.

If you consult Murthy regarding making changes to your approved labor please keep us posted.
BTW, what type(computer/MIS/business) of bachelor's degree required as per your labor?

Thanks.
 
My LC says Bachelors or equivalent Degree in Computer Science or related field. The tricky part is NSC is not accepting multiple degrees Bcom + Mcom to arrive at the US Bachelor's Degree ( contrary to Hernandez's clarification letter). And my bachelor's degree by itself is not equivalent to the US bachelor degree. I am kind of stuck here.

I will find out if my M.com would equate to US Masters. Thanks for this suggestion.

I am also thinking of getting the Labor amended or if possible get a new labor and start the process afresh.
 
nelobar, I found some info regarding your question,

Many practitioners define "or equivalent" according to the H-1B formulation-3 years of experience is equal to one year of education. However, relying on this formulation and substituting twelve years of experience for a US bachelor's degree may often be rejected by the DOL as being too restrictive as well as exceeding the educational and training requirements for the position [5]. Even if there is a way to justify this, DOL objects to the usage of "or equivalent" as the advertisement is targeted toward US workers and not foreign workers
 
Here's my 2 cents
The Law is simple:
I recollect from a transcript of an interview (of a BCIS spokesperson) at Murthy's site.
It stated that, they go STRICTLY by what is mentioned during the labor certifications, I mean, if the labor certification says
"BS Computer Science or EQUIVALENT":
Then the BSIC *STRICTLY* looks for qualifications that are BS in Comp Science , and even if I were a BS (from foreign university of course) in say Robotics/Parallel Processing , they would raise their eye brows and try to check if I am equivalent to a BS in *Computer Science*.

Having said that, most H1-B sponsoring companies ( at least the new ones) are a little inexperienced and they put the exact (ideal) qualifications during labor clearance.
They should instead generalize the qualifications and get the LC as BS/BA or equivilant; ideally if I were a Masters in Philosophy (Say!) then they should set the job description as BS/MS in ANY field + qualifications in computers...bla...bla...bla.
So, in this case the LC would have proved that you match the job qualifications.

Get in touch with your boss (CEO) or company’s lawyer and talk to him if this could have been the case.



Hope this helps and I would like to wish you the best.
Naggi
 
hi lcauser

You are refering to DOL rejecting if the DOL has approved the Labor on these type of cases what is the problem with 140 when company is ok with the position
 
My attorney tells me that DOL accepts the combination of education and experience also, they will not go in detail to see if you qualify for the position. This is done by the service center.

Recently, I heard a I-140 EB3 denial because the position did not require experience.... looks like CIS will make an decision and they do not consider the company's view here.
 
hi lcauser

While the 140 is applied if the company produces a Letter saying that the qualification meets the requirements of the position then should there be any issues on 140

What do you think ?
 
I agree with your argument but USCIS has a different opinion on this.

In my case, my company HR did enclose a letter saying that I was qualified for the position and requested them to approve the petition while replying to the RFE on education equirements. The service center did deny my petition.
 
lcauser

So if there was a letter confirming the position matching the profile then is there a problem to begin with even while applying for 140
 
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