Court Opinion

ID: 9465706
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:53:26.37556+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:19.406808
License: Public Domain

WALLACE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
While this case presents a complicated situation, its complexity is largely due to the mendacity of the petitioner. To secure his visa, he certified that he was a civil servant and that he desired to come to the United States in order to further his education. To be sure that a prospective student will not be a drain on the labor market, the application form contains the question: “Who will pay for your transportation and expenses?” He responded, “Father.” It was based upon this visa application dated November 17, 1970, that the petitioner was allowed originally to come to the United States of America. He did so and apparently began his studies.
Approximately one and a half years after his entry into the United States, he filed an application with the United States Department of Labor in an effort to obtain a labor certificate. This certificate, if validly secured, would allow him to apply for a different visa which would then allow him to work. Under his prior visa, he could not legally do so.
This latter application adequately demonstrates what had actually occurred. In violation of the laws of the United States, he was in fact already working as a Chinese food cook. He did not tell the truth when he stated that his father would support him. In addition, his new application does not claim that he is a civil servant but certifies his occupation as a Chinese food cook, and he lists his prior work experience in that profession. Interestingly, he includes a reference to the Tin Fat Restaurant in Hong Kong where, if he is telling the truth, he would have been a chef at the age of approximately 16 or 17.
An investigation provided conflicting evidence as to whether he was in fact qualified as a Chinese food chef. The hearing officer concluded, after reviewing the evidence and observing the testimony of the petitioner, that he had not met his burden of proof. The substantial change in petitioner’s story apparently caused the immigration hearing officer to conclude: “I cannot but marvel at the present record which shows the dextrous changing of testimony to fit prior statements and prior written matters.”
Petitioner then requested a rehearing on his application, and at that time asserted a third factual premise upon which he claims he should be given a new status: that he intended to go to dental school and work as a Chinese food cook only during the four years necessary to complete his education. The issue before us emerged when the Board concluded the petitioner was ineligible. The Board held that under 8 C.F.R. § 204.4 (1978) and section 212(a)(14) of the Act, “the intent of the male respondent not to continue as a cook, but to become a dentist, makes him ineligible for adjustment of status.”
The majority is correct in concluding that sections 212(a)(14) and 203(a)(6) are “designed to permit aliens capable of performing jobs for which American workers are not available to come to this country, while protecting American workers from the competition of aliens entering the United States to take jobs American workers could fill.” The majority, however, goes astray when it attempts to interpose a “second and potentially conflicting interest” which allegedly grants an alien receiving permanent resident status “the opportunity to earn a living, to improve his economic circumstances, and to engage in common occupations, without unreasonable limitation or invidious discrimination.” Based upon this assumed second interest, the majority holds that the Board was incorrect in this case. The majority is wrong for two reasons.
First, the authority relied upon by the majority for this “second and potentially conflicting interest” is extremely questionable. One of the sources found by the majority to “reflect” this interest is 29 C.F.R. § 60.5(f) (1976). As the majority acknowledges, that section is no longer the applica*837ble regulation. See 20 C.F.R. Part 656 (1978). The new regulations do not contain language comparable to that referred to by the majority here.
The other sources of this second interest are similarly subject to doubt. Thus, the authorities upon which the majority premises its far-reaching doctrine are, in addition to the superseded Code of Federal Regulations section, a “of. ” citation to a text and a footnote from a sister circuit case. But even this scant authority applies only to persons in circumstances other than those of Tse. The rejected section applies only to an immigrant properly admitted, and in Castaneda-Gonzalez v. INS, 183 U.S.App.D.C. 396, 412, 564 F.2d 417, 433 (1977), there was no question raised as to the applicant’s good faith entry.
There is a second reason why the majority is wrong. Assuming that an alien securing permanent resident status based upon sections 212(a)(14) and 203(a)(6) may not be required to work forever at the job for which he received a labor certificate, the question before the Board in this case remains unanswered. That question most emphatically is not whether an immigrant alien, once properly admitted, may change jobs. Rather, the question is whether an alien who applies for immigrant status, and who is thus considered as if he were initially entering the country, see, e. g., ante (majority opinion) at 834; Campos v. INS, 402 F.2d 758, 760 (9th Cir. 1968), may definitely intend, at the time that he makes his application, to change employment from that for which he acquires his labor certificate.
The Board did not forbid an immigrant alien from changing his mind in the future and improving his employment situation. The Board simply held that at the specific time the petitioner submits his application, he must have made a choice to work in the specific area for which he received the work certificate. When the petitioner admits that his desire to do that type of work is merely temporary (i. e., until he can secure some other type of work), he does not qualify-
A case not distinguished by the majority clearly outlines this principle. In Matter of Poulin, 13 I. & N. Dec. 264 (1968), the petitioner’s labor certificate showed he intended to work as a “weaver learner.” Although petitioner worked in this capacity for one day, his admitted intention at the time of entry was to work as a lumberman. The Board ordered deportation because it found that “there is no certification that there were not sufficient workers in the United States able, willing, qualified, and available to do the work the applicant intended to do at the time of his original and present application for admission . . .” Id. at 266. The petitioner intended to work as a “weaver learner,” but only until he could secure the job he actually wished to hold, that of a lumberman. He must, therefore, secure a labor certificate as a lumberman. The same principle applies here. Although the petitioner intends to work for four years rather than one day, in both cases the intent is, for the foreseeable future, not to work in a particular area, but only to work in that area until the other occupation becomes available.
The wisdom of following Poulin is obvious. The protection of the American work force, as underscored by section 212(a)(14), specifically has to do with where an alien will compete in the job market. The ultimate intent of petitioner is not to work as a Chinese food cook but to work as a dentist. Granting him a labor certificate for what is obviously only temporary employment and closing the Board’s eyes to his eventual employment desire would merely frustrate the basic purposes of the statute and prevent the Board from performing its statutorily mandated duty of protecting American labor.
Thus, the majority is wrong in principle and wrong because the authority relied upon does not substantiate its contention. I would therefore affirm the Board. However, if the majority position is accepted, I would reluctantly agree that the matter should be remanded to the Board so that it may exercise its discretion. Because of the petitioner’s mendacity, the remand appears *838to me to be a useless exercise. I agree, however, that we should require it as a matter of appropriate procedure.