Mr. K. had held an H1-B visa for six years. Because he was on EAD/Parole, he could not apply for a 7th. He applied for an I-140 and was subsequently denied.

Executive Director Sheila Danzig was able to issue an educational evaluation that indicated that Mr. K’s 3-year degree was the U.S. equivalency of a four-year Bachelor Degree. With the evaluation report and an expert opinion by Professor John Kersey, Mr. K’s attorney immediately filed a motion to reopen his case.

The client’s I-140 was subsequently approved. Our client had the following advice to offer other persons in the same situation:

Apply for MTR/Appeal within 30 days from the date of rejection(please be strict with this time line, even a day delayed will take the case to AAO, which takes like 15 months for a decision, and the decision will mostly likely be negative if you go to AAO).

2. Do NOT send evaluation from two evaluators, I have heard from my lawyer that those cases have been denied stating the reason that evaluations are not exactly similar.

3. Have a Subject by Subject evaluation to prove that you have at least 120 credits (equivalent of US Bachelor Degree).

This worked well for our client!

Finally, success. . .   . Career Consulting International has just learned that one of the company’s clients received approval for their I-140 immigration visa from the USCIS. This individual had a 3-Year degree from a polytechnic school in Engineering.

Initially, the client had requested a foreign credentials evaluation from another educational evaluation agency. His first petition was denied from AAO after only one year. Then he came to Career Consulting International.

We were able to show that his 3-year degree was the U.S. equivalency of a four-year Bachelor Degree in the same field. We also issued an evaluation report indicating that the client’s Associate Membership in the Indian Institute of Metals (AMIM) was the U.S. equivalency of a Master Degree in Metals Engineering.

The client’s attorney used these evaluations to submit a brief arguing that the client’s petition should be approved. The client’s I-140 visa was subsequently granted.

Our client was accepted into a traditional four-year engineering degree program in India as a second-year student. He completed the final three years of the program and graduated. After reading the educational evaluation from another consulting agency, the USCIS denied his immigration visa on the basis that he had actually completed a 3-year degree rather than a four-year Bachelor Degree.

Using extensive research material, CCI was able to issue a foreign academic credentials evaluation indicating that the client had indeed graduated from a four-year Bachelor Degree program. On appeal, the USCIS reviewed the information and concluded that the client did indeed have the U.S. equivalency of a four-year Bachelor Degree. His immigration visa was approved.

Our client was from Pakistan. He had graduated with a Bachelor Degree after two years, and continued his education to get a Master Degree. He obtained an educational evaluation for a work visa indicating that his foreign academic credentials were equivalent to a four-year degree. The USCIS issued a denial, indicating that the evaluation report had combined two degrees to issue the U.S. equivalency of a single four-year degree.

Career Consulting International was able to offer an expert opinion that, combined with a large quantity of research, persuasively demonstrated that the client’s foreign credentials were equal to a four-year degree. Furthermore, this was done without attempting to combine the client’s foreign degrees to achieve this equivalency. The USCIS found the evaluation persuasive, and reversed the denial on appeal.

Sometimes, the USCIS recognizes that a client’s foreign degree is the U.S. equivalency of a Bachelor Degree, but disagrees that the client’s educational experience meets labor certificate requirements. In these cases, a functional equivalency must be shown between the labor certificate and the degree obtained.

In this particular case, a client approached Career Consulting International after receiving an RFE from the USCIS. He held a Bachelor Degree in Engineering, but his immigration visa requirements required a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science.

We were able to supply extensive research materials and evidence to issue an expert opinion demonstrating how the two degrees were in fact functionally equivalent. With the educational evaluation and the expert opinion, we were able to successfully answer the RFE.

The client received approval for his visa.

This client had a 3-year degree and a GNIIT diploma. He had applied for an I-140 immigration visa, and received an RFE from the USCIS. After consulting several foreign credential evaluation agencies, he found none who were willing to submit an evaluation report showing his 3-year degree to be the U.S. equivalency of a Bachelor Degree.

Then he turned to Career Consulting International. We were able to offer him an educational evaluation demonstrating his 3-year Bachelor Degree to be equal to a U.S. Bachelor Degree as the labor certificate demanded. We did this by offering an evaluation report, an expert opinion letter, and 250 pages of documentation supporting the position that the two degrees were equivalent.

He was happy to share with us later that we had successfully answered the RFE and his I-140 had been approved. While we could not offer him a 100 percent guarantee that his foreign degree would be accepted, we could show him that we have had considerable success in demonstrating the equivalency of these two degrees.