EDUCATIONAL EVALUATIONS

Educational Evaluations are often required to enable the INS to determine whether an individual is a ‘professional’ as required under Immigration laws. Evaluations are of two types:

METHOD I: Evaluation Of Only Education Within The Specific Field

A recognized credentials evaluation service can provide an evaluation that the alien’s educational qualifications from a foreign country are equivalent to the completion of a United States baccalaureate or higher degree in the specialty occupation. Under this particular regulation (8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(C) (4)) the following points must be kept in mind.

(i) In considering that the foreign degree is equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree in the U.S., the Evaluator must consider education only and cannot take work experience into consideration;

(ii) The education must be in the specialty occupation or position for which the H-1B is being obtained or be in a closely related position. The education cannot be in a totally unrelated field - for example, a person with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work cannot qualify under any circumstances to work for a computer-consulting firm.

In practice, Evaluators have often given evaluations showing that a 3-year B.Com degree from India (10+2+3=15) is equivalent to a 4-year Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in the U.S. (10+2+4=16). However in most cases these evaluators consider experience as well as education. In some cases, they take into account a postgraduate diploma. But where no diplomas are available, the Evaluator takes experience into consideration as well, in providing such evaluations and equivalency standards. According to the regulations, this is not acceptable but has been passing unnoticed by the INS regional offices. (Except for occasional examiners in the Northern Service Center.)

Similarly, the Evaluators often provide us with acceptable evaluations for a specific field. For instance a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce with a two year Diploma in Computer Science may well be evaluated as a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Management. Strictly speaking, the INS is not required to accept such an Evaluation for a computer position because the regulations require the individual to have completed 4 years of education in the field of Computer Science. This is another part of the regulations being overlooked by the INS.

Finally, where an individual has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Studies or related fields and nothing else, no Evaluator will be able to state that the individual has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources or Computer Science. Even if such an evaluation were to be obtained, the INS will in all probability not accept the validity of such an evaluation.

Therefore 4 years of college level studies or education in a specific field of endeavor is an important pre-requisite to obtaining an H-1B.

METHOD II: Evaluation Of Education, Specialized Training And/Or Work Experience Within The Specific Field

In the second method of obtaining evaluations the Evaluator is not required to consider only the education within the specific field, but can also consider any combination of education, specialized training and/or experience which is equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree (within the specific field) from an accredited university in the United States. (8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(C)(5))

Strictly speaking an Evaluation from an Educational Evaluation Agency is not even required because it is the INS that has to make a determination of equivalence under this regulation. In practice however the INS prefers and often insists on a recognized educational evaluation agency providing an evaluation. Therefore it is always advisable to obtain one.

The kind of experience which is necessary and the kinds of experience letters that must be provided under this regulation must be as per the guidelines below.

GUIDELINES FOR OBTAINING WORK EXPERIENCE EVALUATIONS

Let us take the example of an individual with a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degrees in social work or sociology and additional Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Philosophy and an excellent academic record having won gold medals and stood first in every exam. If this individual now gets a job with a computer consulting firm, even though he/she has no formal education in the field of computer science, who wishes to sponsor him on an H-1B as a Systems Analyst, he would be required to establish that he has 12 years of progressive work experience and that this would be equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree in computer science. (For purposes of determining equivalency to a Bachelor’s degree in the specialty, three years of specialized training or work experience must be demonstrated for each year of college level training the alien lacks.) Therefore, although the Alien had several years of formal education, far more than what is required for equivalence purposes, the alien had no formal education in computer science or a related field and in order to make up for this lack of 4 years of education we have to show that the alien had 12 years of progressive work experience in the field of computer science. If the alien had 2 years of college level education in computer science then he would have to prove an additional 6 years of progressive work experience in the field, to make up for the still missing 2 years of education, as per the above ‘3 for 1’ guidelines.

As mentioned above, not any letters of previous work experience will suffice. The letters of experience from past employers need to be extremely detailed and exhaustive in nature and contain the following:

That the alien’s work experience and/or training included the theoretical and practical application of knowledge required by the specialty occupation. Therefore, the letters must indicate that the work experience included the equivalent of completion of coursework in the specific field.

That the aliens’ work experience was gained while working with peers or superiors or subordinates who have a degree or it’s equivalent in the specialty occupation.

That the alien has recognition of expertise in the specialty occupation evidenced by at least one type of documentation from the following:
Recognition of expertise in the specialty occupation by at least two recognized authorities in the same specialty occupation; OR
Membership in a recognized foreign or U.S. Association or Society in the specialty occupation; OR
Published material by or about the alien in professional publications, trade journals, books or major newspapers; OR
Licensure or registration to practice the specialty occupation in a foreign country; OR
Achievements that a recognized authority has determined to be significant contributions to the field of the specialty occupation. [N.B. Point a) above is probably easier to establish since it requires the establishment of expertise and not significant achievements, though it does require opinions from 2 authorities rather than 1.]

That the experience was gained in the specialty occupation through progressively responsible positions directly related to the specialty. (In other words, proof that one gained the experience in progressively responsible positions from a Junior to Senior level.)

Definition Of A Recognized Authority

Recognized authority means a person or an organization with expertise in a particular field, special skills or knowledge in that field and the expertise to render the type of opinion requested. Such an opinion must state:

(i) The writer’s qualifications as an expert;

(ii) The writer’s experience giving such opinions, citing specific instances where past opinions have been accepted as authoritative and by whom;

(iii) How the conclusions were reached; and

(iv) The basis for the conclusions supported by copies or citations of any research material used.