Three Year Bachelor's Degrees: Good For H-1b, But Not For Green Card?

By Author: Morley J. Nair
Total Articles: 9
Comment this article

This is an issue very much in focus in recent times mainly because of a perceivable shift in standards of adjudication adopted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). A near-panic has been caused among people with the so-called three year degrees by the denial of a number of employment-based petitions by USCIS in recent times.

In several countries (especially of the British Commonwealth), one can get a bachelor's degree after a total of 15 years of schooling, either as 12 years higher secondary and a three year degree, or in some instances, with a 10+2+3 program. People holding such bachelor's degrees are lately finding it hard to obtain employment-based immigrant visas in the U.S. through the Employment-Based third preference (EB-3) professional jobs. Professional jobs are defined as those that need a bachelor's degree as the entry level requirement.

Bachelor's degrees in the U.S. are generally granted after a total of 16 years of schooling, i.e., 12 years up until High School and four years of college. So when an employer processes a Labor Certification for an employment-based ...
... green card in a professional occupation (i.e., with the requirement of a U.S. Bachelor's degree or its foreign equivalent), the assumption is that of a foreign bachelor's degree that is comparable to a U.S. bachelor's degree.

Until recently, this could be achieved using the experience equivalency evaluation. That is, a bachelor's degree equivalency could be obtained by substituting three years of work experience for one year of academic education. So, a person with a three year degree (obtained after a total of 15 years of schooling) could be evaluated as having the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree if he/she had three years of work experience in a related field. Technically, this could be applied to a situation even where the person had a 12 year high school (or, in some countries, pre-university or pre-degree) diploma and 12 years of experience, he/she would qualify as the holder of a US equivalent BS degree. It is understood that a huge number of cases have been approved over the years using this standard.

But recent decisions by the USCIS show a totally different trend. Immigrant Visa petitions are being denied by the USCIS for the lack of a single four-year degree. To quote from such a denial, the regulation at 8 CFR 204.5 (l)(3)(ii)(C) is clear in allowing only for the equivalency of one foreign degree to a United States baccalaureate, not a combination of degrees, diplomas, or employment experience. There is no comparable provision to substitute a combination of degrees, work experience, or certificates which when taken together equals the same amount of coursework required for a US baccalaureate degree

But, as far as processing of H-1B petitions go, the above 3-for-1 formula is still adopted. H1B visas are non-immigrant work visas granted by USCIS to a foreign national to live and work in the United States for a temporary period in a specialty occupation, i.e., an occupation that requires a minimum of a U.S. bachelor's degree or equivalent.

Disclaimer: The information in the above article is of a general nature only and should not be taken as legal advice. Always seek professional legal advice before proceeding with your case.

Copyright: The Law Offices of Morley J. Nair, Inc.

About the Author:

Morley J. Nair is the founder of The Law Offices of Morley J. Nair, located in Philadelphia, PA, practicing Immigration Law in all the 50 states. The firm has processed thousands of H-1Bs and hundreds of employment-based immigrant visas. The firm websites are http://www.visaworks.com and http://www.h1bplanet.com.