Chertoff

MEMORANDUM *

Brazil Quality Stones, Inc. (“BQS”) and Eugenio Tavares dos Santos (collectively “Petitioners”) appeal from the *965 district court’s order upholding the Department of Homeland Security Administrative Appeals Office’s (“AAO”) decision, which affirmed the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (“USCIS”) denial of their petition for an extension of dos Santos’s L-1A visa as an intra-company transferee. 1 See 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(15)(L).

I

After concluding that dos Santos was not eligible for an L-1A visa, see 8 U.S.C. § § 1101(a)(15)(L), 1101(a)(44)(A), the AAO was not required to consider, sua sponte, whether dos Santos qualified for an L-1B visa as an employee acting in a position of “specialized knowledge,” see id. § 1101(a)(15)(L). BQS never petitioned the USCIS to consider dos Santos for an L-1B classification, nor did it raise such argument in its appeal to the AAO. The Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) placed the burden of proof on Petitioners to demonstrate dos Santos’s visa eligibility, see id. § 1361, and the applicable regulations required B Q S to notify USCIS of any changes in dos Santos’s capacity of employment, see 8 C.F.R.…