Preference quota status — Section 203 (a) (1) (A), Immigration and Nationality Act — Tailor — Criteria for eligibility.
(1) First preference status will be accorded a tailor with a minimum of 5 years' actual working experience in the performance of (1) all the hand-sewing operations necessary to make a man's suit or overcoat, or (2) all the machine-sewing operations necessary to make a man's suit or overcoat, or (3) all the operations by hand sewing or machine sewing necessary to make a man's suit or overcoat.
(2) Certification by recognized representatives of industry and labor that a particular beneficiary meets their jointly agreed-upon qualifications standards as a skilled tailor, as set forth above, will hereafter be accepted as sufficient to establish those qualifications.
(3) First preference quota status is approved in the instant case as the beneficiary, who served as an apprentice tailor from 1947 to the end of 1950 and who has worked as a tailor since that time performing all kinds of tailoring work to the satisfaction of his employer, meets the criteria set forth above.
(4) Matter of R----, VP 04-29659-60, VP 04-29883, Int. Dec. No. 788 (May 8, 1956), is superseded by this decision.
BEFORE THE CENTRAL OFFICE
Discussion: The beneficiary is a 24-year-old unmarried male, a native and resident of Italy. The petitioner is a manufacturer and retailer of men's and women's clothing and desires to import the beneficiary as a skilled tailor in the manufacture of men's clothing.
The order to the Employment Service specified a fully qualified journeyman tailor for a 40-hour week at a salary of $60 to $100 a week. The Employment Service has certified that a domestic worker so qualified cannot be found in the United States. Representatives of manufacturers and labor in the clothing industry have established the following criteria in recognition of an individual as a skilled tailor: A minimum of 5 years of actual working experience in the performance of all of the tasks in any one of the 3 categories listed below: Category No. 1 — Performing all of the hand-sewing operations necessary to make a man's suit or outercoat, such as:
a. Basting canvas to coat
b. Under-basting facing to coat
c. Felling tape to canvas
d. Basting lining to coat
e. Basting and felling undercollar to coat
f. Felling linings at side seam and bottom
g. Basting top collar to undercollar
h. Felling collar and sleeve linings
i. Sewing buttons and buttonholes.
Category No. 2 — Performing all of the machine-sewing operations to make a man's suit or outercoat, such as:
a. Making and setting pockets and joining seams
b. Sewing tape around edge of coat
c. Sewing in sleeve to armhole
d. Sewing collar to coat
e. Sewing tape
f. Joining shoulder seams
g. Sewing linings to facing.
Category No. 3 — Performing by hand sewing and/or machine sewing all of the operations necessary to make a man's suit or outercoat, such as:
a. Making pockets and joining seams
b. Sewing tape around edge of coat
c. Hand-basting canvas to coat
d. Under-basting facing to coat
e. Basting undercollar to coat
f. Sewing sleeves to armholes
g. Sewing buttons and buttonholes
h. Felling sleeves and buttonholes
i. Basting and tacking armholes.
The beneficiary served as an apprentice tailor from 1947 to the end of 1950. He has worked as a tailor since that time, doing all types of tailoring work to the satisfaction of his employer. Since the beneficiary meets the criteria set forth herein, the appeal will be sustained.
Experience gained in handling this case also warrants a conclusion that in any similar case, in connection with determining whether a particular beneficiary possesses the prescribed qualifications as a tailor, a certification to that effect made by recognized representatives of labor and industry that a responsible officer of such organization has interviewed the beneficiary or has examined his credentials and has found that he meets the qualifications standards jointly agreed upon by industry and labor, as set forth above, should be accepted as sufficient to establish those qualifications.
Hereafter, in adjudicating visa petitions relating to first preference quota status for tailors, the criteria set forth in this order will be applied rather than the views expressed in Matter of R----, VP 04-29659-60, VP 04-29883, Int. Dec. No. 788 (May 8, 1956).
Order: It is ordered that the appeal be sustained.