## Facts

- Sea, Inc. designed, manufactured, and marketed marine radio-communications equipment.
- Sea, Inc. sought to employ the beneficiary in the United States as an electrical-design engineer.
- The beneficiary was a native and citizen of Denmark.
- Sea, Inc. filed a nonimmigrant petition requesting classification for the beneficiary as a nonimmigrant of “distinguished merit and ability” under the Immigration and Nationality Act (the pre-1990 H-1 category).
- The beneficiary had not completed formal, baccalaureate-level education.
- The beneficiary completed professional training in Denmark, including an apprenticeship and a course of study at a Danish technical college.
- The technical-college program took three years to complete.
- A foreign-education evaluation service concluded that the technical-college program was equivalent to a two-year associate of arts degree in the United States.
- At the time the beneficiary received his formal education, Denmark had no baccalaureate-equivalent program in the beneficiary’s field.
- The beneficiary had 20 years of professional experience in the field.
- The beneficiary had worked for major Danish electronics firms.
- The beneficiary’s employment history reflected a progression to positions with increasing responsibility.
- The beneficiary had received professional recognition.
- The director of the INS Northern Regional Service Center denied the petition.
- Sea, Inc. appealed the denial to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

## Issues

1. Whether a beneficiary seeking pre-1990 H-1 classification as a nonimmigrant of “distinguished merit and ability” may qualify without baccalaureate-level education based on technical schooling, apprenticeship training, extensive experience, and professional recognition.
2. How to evaluate foreign technical education and career experience where the beneficiary’s country did not offer a baccalaureate-equivalent program in the field at the time of the beneficiary’s studies.

## Decision

- The Board of Immigration Appeals considered Sea, Inc.’s administrative appeal from the Northern Regional Service Center director’s denial of the H-1 (distinguished merit and ability) petition.
- Publicly available summaries provide the case’s facts and procedural posture but do not provide the Board’s full holding, reasoning, or disposition.

## Legal Principles

- In a pre-1990 H-1 “distinguished merit and ability” petition, the petitioner bears the burden to show that the beneficiary’s background meets the statutory and regulatory requirements for the requested classification.
- Where the beneficiary lacks a U.S.-style bachelor’s degree, the record may include evidence of alternative preparation, such as foreign technical education, apprenticeship training, and substantial work experience in progressively responsible roles.
- Foreign-education evaluations comparing non-U.S. programs to U.S. degrees may be submitted as evidence, but they are part of a larger record that also includes the beneficiary’s work history and any professional recognition.
- Differences in foreign educational structures (including the absence of a baccalaureate-equivalent program in a given country and field at the relevant time) may be relevant to how the beneficiary’s preparation is documented and assessed.

## Conclusion

In re Sea, Inc., 19 I. & N. Dec. 817 (B.I.A. 1988), involves Sea, Inc.’s appeal from the denial of a pre-1990 H-1 petition seeking to classify a Danish electrical-design engineer as a nonimmigrant of “distinguished merit and ability,” where the beneficiary lacked baccalaureate-level education but presented evidence of a three-year Danish technical-college program (evaluated as comparable to a U.S. associate degree), apprenticeship training, 20 years of progressively responsible experience with major Danish electronics firms, and professional recognition; publicly available summaries describe the facts and posture but do not provide the Board’s detailed holding or disposition.


In re Sea, Inc., 19 I. & N. Dec. 817 (1988)