In the past year, some officers at the Texas Service Center (TSC) had been denying EB-2 / I-140 petitions based upon labor certification, finding that an MBBS degree is not equivalent to an M.D. in the U.S. In an appeal decision by the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), the AAO reversed a TSC denial and found that an MBBS obtained after five years of study, such as those awarded in India, is equivalent to a M.D. in the U.S. Although our law firm has never experienced a denial of an I-140 on this basis, we greatly appreciate this decision which should bar the TSC from questionning whether our physician clients are M.D.s!

-By Ann Massey Badmus