PORTUGUES DO ATLANTICO INFORMATION BUREAU

Citations

• 19 I. & N. Dec. 194

Syllabus

PORTUGUES DO ATLANTICO INFORMATION BUREAU, INC., 19 I&N Dec. 194 (Comm. 1984) ID 2982 (PDF) (1) The proposition that experience is the same as or generally can be substituted for the normal educational requirements for a particular position is erroneous. (2) Individuals lacking the particular degrees normally prerequisite to professional practice in their fields of endeavor may be classified as professionals in rare instances where they occupy clearly professional positions, have substantially completed normal educational requirements for the position they occupy, are recognized and permitted to practice as professionals. Case law also accommodates those instances where individuals attain professional standing through directed experience and specialized instruction recognized by appropriate professional bodies as a form of preparation for the practice of particular professions, e.g., \reading\ law. (3) A professional position is one which requires a standard and at least baccalaureate level of university education for practice, in which that education is applied, and which requires extensive autonomous application of individual professional knowledge to particular fact situations.