EB-2 with Master's degree in 5 years = I-140 issue

[apacheco73]

Hello,

I'm applying for a Green Card under EB-2 as Advanced degree Professionals.

I've got a Master's degree in Computer Science from Europe. It is done in 5 (3+2) years, you cannot do it in 6 (4+2) years as in the USA.

I've just received a RFE for my I-140 asking to prove the equivalence of my Master's degree or to prove that I've got a bachelor's degree with 5 years experience.
Here's an excerpt of the content of the RFE:
"The Educational Evaluation submitted in connection with your petition equates the Masters Degree earned by the beneficiary to that of one issued by an accredited U.S. College or University. However, this information is not in accord with information contained in many other evaluations for this degree. Since the visa classification also allows for a Bachelor's Degree plus five years of experience and the degree submitted does equate to a U.S. Bachelor's degree [...]"

When filled, I didn't have the 5 years experience. So the only solution is to prove that my Master's degree is equivalent with a US Master.

My lawyer, who took the case after the Labor Certification approval, told me it is already lost and that we need to start from the beginning with a new Labor Certification filled under EB-3. I'm not interested to start from scratch and I am convinced there might be a way to prove that European Master's degree are equivalent to US one.

Has anybody encountered this problem?
How can I prove the equivalence?

Please give me some suggestions.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Best Regards.

[C4us]

Get a consultation with another or change if you don't have confidence in the one you have.

You need to see if he/she is a member of AILA.org.

[txh1b]

You can try your luck by providing a course by course evaluation. There are couple of agencies (Especially one) that charges quite a bit and does it and has quite a bit of success with proving 3 yr degree equivalent to 4 year US Degree.

However, the 5 yr to Masters might be possible through them. Also, another route is to find an accredited university that will admit you to a directly to a PhD program considering your existing MS. This will prove what they want and some have tried this route as well.

If not, starting from scratch is what you have to do and better get that started as a back-up NOW as you can at least capture the PD.

[apacheco73]

Get a consultation with another or change if you don't have confidence in the one you have.

You need to see if he/she is a member of AILA.org.

Thank you for the advice.
I checked and my 2 lawyers were/are not members of AILA.
I may contact one and have a second opinion.

[apacheco73]

If not, starting from scratch is what you have to do and better get that started as a back-up NOW as you can at least capture the PD.

Unfortunately my Labor Certification is not valid anymore (180 days already passed since approval). So did I loose my Priority Date too?

[apacheco73]

I-140 denied

Ok, just got the answer from USCIS and even by submitting 2 evaluations of equivalencies from Trustforte (good and serious company) and DegreePeople (very bad company - I will write about this matter soon) with professors' opinions. Note that IERTF did not approve the equivalency but of course I did not submit their opinion to USCIS.

USCIS does not list their sources to conclude my French masters degree is not equivalent to a US masters degree:
"[...] this information is not in accord with information contained in many other evaluations for this degree."

I think they could have directly written:
"you brought all the evaluations you could, but we don't give a s*&t about it 'coz we're USCIS and your a$$ on the US soil belongs to us!"
Although I feel it this way...

Anybody here who went for a MTR or who won in appeal?

Thanks

[apacheco73]

Last news

In case people think that European have more chances to get accepted in USA... well no:
My MTR was rejected although I provided a new positive evaluation of equivalency - the one that seems to be officially used by USCIS.

I decided to go in appeal, and now my file is sitting somewhere on a desk in Washington DC. I should get an answer in 2 years

I'm back in my country where I can work freely for anyone. Sure I earn less money (about half) but there are many other advantages (free healthcare, 5 week vacation, closer to families...).
Right now, I'm not even sure to go back to US even if the Green Card is granted.

Good Luck for all of you!

[PTGC]

Hi,

It really depends on how strong you want to stay in the US? How long you could wait? Generally speaking, the application time of EB-2 is faster than EB-3 as you came from an European country. If I were you, I would find another agency to do evaluation of qualification relevancy again. But it definitely will cost you certain amount of money. Before you do that, you have to consider your financial situation to see is it worth or not? because you might not necessarily succeed.

Like me, I applied my GC under EB-2, the whole process just took around 1.5 yrs. My Master degree is from the US university. I was so lucky that the whole process was so smooth. Also, I came from the country with available visa quota.

Honestly, I don't see any huge differeces between H-1 B holder and G-C holder. I still work in the same job and got the same salary. I plan to go back to my home country someday if I could find any better opportunities. I know there are certain advantages of having a green card in turn of changing job and traveling.....I do agree with you that our home country probably has more opportunities for us. For some cases, instead of spending so much money and being stuck in an unfavorable job, going back to where we came from is definitely one of good options.

This is just my personal feeling and thinking. Pls further consult with your attorney for legal advice.

Good luck for your application. Take good care in the US

PT