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BS or MS Degree and Equivalence and USCIS Position

8/29/2006

This has been a challenging issue for the NSC. Since all the I-140 petitions are filed with the NSC and at least the half of the cases will be adjudicated by the NSC, it is important to learn the NSC's positions on the following issues. According to the NSC Director, the following are the current positions of NSC:

Bachelor or Master degree must meet two requirement: One is the number of years in schools. Second is the specialty courses. From these standards, the NSC appears to take the following positions:

12 years in elementary and high school + 3 year Bachelor of Science degree in India + 2 years of Post Graduate Diploma or Master degree = Not Equivalent to a Master's degree for the reason that generally 18 years in school is required for a master's degree. Since one of post graduate program is taken out for Bachelor's degree equivalency, it may not necessarily prove a master's degree, according to the NSC. Such background may likely be used to prove a bachelor's degree equivalency.

12 years in elementary and high school + 3 year Bachelor of Science degree in India + 3 years of Post Graduate Diploma or Master degree= Master degree equivalent.

13 years in elementary and high school in European countries + 3 year Bachelor of Science degree= Maybe equivalent to a Bachelors degree in the U.S.

Two 2-year degrees at the same level = Not equivalent to a Bachelor's degree. Accordingly, two AA degrees will not make a Bachelor's degree equivalent. The opinion may be different if the second 2-year program requires the first 2-year degree as prerequisite to the admission.

NSC also confirms the following policies:

Alternative requirement of "MS + 1 year Experience or BS + 3 or 4 year Experience" in the Labor Certification = Not qualified for EB-2

Stand-alone BS + 5 years of progressive experience without the alternative requirement of MS in the Labor Certification = Qualified for EB-2.




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