Evaluate both degrees or only the masters?

Key answer

For NIW a masters is enough, or a bachelors plus five years of progressive experience in the degree profession, and an evaluation without GPA suffices. But members advise sending more: one had a bachelors, an engineering diploma and a certificate of doctoral exams evaluated together as above a masters, and results differ between evaluators, so send to two or three at once. A specialist degree is rated as a masters for some and not for others - it depends on hours and credits; an MBA will not be added to a specialist degree, and if filing is not urgent it is better to wait for the second diploma and send everything together to avoid paying twice. Be careful with three-year bachelors: there is a known denial where the officer rejected such a degree despite the evaluation. A transcript with grades was not required for USCIS.

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Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

Read the USCIS website more carefully. It clearly states: a beneficiary meets the advanced degree requirement if they have a U.S. master's degree or higher, or a foreign degree evaluated as equivalent to a master's degree, or a bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive experience after the degree. If you have a bachelor's degree plus five years of experience in the field indicated on the diploma, you can already qualify for NIW. Submit the recognition documents and don't stress.
In general, yes, evaluations without GPA are sufficient. There are many evaluation services; choose according to your preference: they processed mine quickly, equating my education to a master's degree, and my experience was positive.
What if I write to the company where the evaluation was already done and ask? I think they will redo it based on the previous application. Generally, the more you send for evaluation, the higher the result can be: I have a bachelor's degree, an engineering degree, and a simple certificate for the candidate's minimum exams, which in total were equated to a level above a master's. It's better to send to two or three companies simultaneously since the results can vary, giving you a choice.
In a standard situation, two diplomas are sent - bachelor and master, which is standard. A specialist degree is more complicated: some are assessed as a master's only, while others are not, depending on hours and credits. There's no guarantee that an MBA will be counted as a continuation of the specialist degree. It might be worth sending the specialist for evaluation first, then during the summer sending the specialist plus MBA. However, if the case isn't urgent, I would wait for the second diploma because you will have to pay for the re-evaluation in full again.
A couple of months ago, I read about a denial for EB-3. The officer did not accept a European bachelor's diploma obtained in three years, even though the evaluation stated it was equivalent to an American bachelor's degree. You have to be very careful with three-year diplomas.
I have two diplomas - two transcripts with grades, one for the bachelor's and one for the specialist degree. I did the evaluation in the US without transcripts. From my experience, USCIS does not require transcripts: my education was accepted without them.

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

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Evaluate both degrees or only the masters?

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