The general rule in obtaining legal permanent residency under the EB-2 “professionals with advanced degrees” (INA §203(b)(2)) is that the foreign national beneficiary must have an advanced degree (master’s or higher) or a single-source bachelor’s degree. For those foreign nationals from countries with immigrant visa number backlogs such as India and China, filing under the EB-2 category (as opposed to the lower EB-3 category that requires a bachelor’s degree or two years of skilled experience), can mean obtaining legal permanent residency years faster. There are many exceptions to this highly confusing and esoteric area of the law.
One of the exceptions regards the requirement of a single-source bachelor’s degree. USCIS has approved EB-2 Form I-140 immigrant visa petitions where the beneficiary earned a three-year bachelor’s of science degree (as confirmed by EDGE/AACRAO educational standards system) and an ensuing post-graduate diploma (PGD) from a program accredited by the AICTE (All-India Council for Technical Education) from India at the time the PGD was earned.