On April 17, 2017 an immigration policy memorandum was issued by the Service adopting “Matter of O-A- Inc.,” a copy of the memo can be found here, as a guidepost for USCIS decisions going forward. This case was focused on whether, at the time a provisional certificate is issued, a beneficiary has completed all substantive requirements to earn the degree and the university or college has approved the degree.
In this case, the beneficiary’s provisional certificate was issued May 17, 2006, but she did not receive her formal diploma until March 30, 2007, according to the decision. The priority date was Oct. 23, 2014. The director concluded that the beneficiary fell short of the five-year requirement because she accrued four years and eight months of qualifying experience between the diploma date and the priority date, but the agency said that, based on the evidence in the record, the issuance of the provisional certificate conferred the foreign equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree. And the agency found that she had obtained at least five years of qualifying post-baccalaureate experience.
It was determined that the provisional certificate, together with the beneficiary’s statement of marks, showed that she had completed all the substantive requirements for her degree and that the university approved her degree. As such, the agency determined that the petitioner had shown that the beneficiary met the minimum education and experience requirements of the labor certification and EB-2 classification and sustained the appeal.
Going forward, the Service has been directed to conduct case-specific analysis to determine whether a beneficiary who received a provisional certificate had completed all requirements to earn the degree and that the school had approved the degree at the time the certificate was issued. This is good news for those beneficiary who get their provisional certificates much earlier than their diplomas.