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Degree Equivalency for I-140

By Annie Banerjee

Everyone knows that the CIS is in a denying mode and will deny every Employment based petition that it possibly can. Add that to the equation that for India and China the Employment based Third Preference petitions for India is currently being processed for people who filed in July of 2001. A lot of client want to get onto the second preference category. But the requirements for EB-2 are very strict. The minimum qualification for an EB-2 job is at least a Master's Degree or a Bachelor's Degree plus 5 years of experience. The Experience has to be obtained after the degree is obtained and before starting the job with the sponsor. (The rationale being that if the sponsor provided the beneficiary with the experience, it can provide an Us Citizen with the same experience opportunity).

However, the CIS is extremely harsh with Indian degrees.

A three year Bachelors Degree from India is not equivalent to a Bachelor's degree here.

A three year Bachelors degree in a general field and a one (or sometimes two year) Masters degree in a particular field from India is not equivalent to a Bachelors degree in the US

A Bachelors degree in some field and a Masters in another specific field is not equivalent to a Masters even if the time frame for both studies is 6 years.

A Four year Bachelor's Degree and 1 year Masters is not equivalent to a Masters

The waters are more muddied by the fact that all these cases are decided on a "case by case basis." There is no consistency between cases even in the same service center.

I realize that there are some institutions in India that are not good, but so are many institutions in the US. India has 1 billion people and the competition to get into Universities is far higher than in the US. Yet, the US looks favorably to a degree from say England, than it does to a degree from India. As they say in India, if you cannot get into IIT, apply to MIT or Harvard.

And for the record, Obama did not get into Columbia as an undergraduate in the freshman year. He transferred from Occidental College. And Bush could not have gotten into any college based on merit. Saint John's School in Houston refused him admission as a kid.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details

Full post as published by US Immigration Matters on February 17, 2010 (boomark / email).