Greek pizza maker Eleutherios Spirou has worked at a Quincy eatery for more than 20 years, but he could be deported after a federal judge ruled he didn’t have the right to claim “showmanship” as a special skill — because his pie-making prowess doesn’t include tossing the dough — according to court documents and the pizzeria’s attorney.

“Basically, immigration said, ‘This guy can’t throw pizza, so we’re denying him the visa,’” said Desmond Fitzgerald, the attorney for Copeland Pizza. “The court said our description really didn’t show any showmanship in any way, so they upheld the decision of immigration. I’m very surprised. I thought we were in a good position.”

Copeland Pizza, which is owned by Stergios and Despina Versamis, asked for a visa for Spirou and said he had the ability to “exercise showmanship in preparation of food, such as tossing pizza dough in the air to lighten texture,” according to court documents. However, they later admitted he doesn’t actually toss the dough, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services denied the visa petition.

When Copeland appealed, U.S. District Court judge Denise Casper sided with the feds.

“Even accepting Copeland’s definition of the term, ‘showmanship’ would require Spirou to perform his duties in a dramatic matter,” she wrote in an eight-page decision last week. “The exemplar of tossing pizza only furthers the court’s understanding of this definition. However, the court has not gleaned any evidence in the record of Spirou’s ability to exhibit such skill in the performance of his job duties.”

Copeland has not yet decided whether to appeal the ruling. Immigration authorities can move to deport Spirou once the process ends.

“More than flipping pizza in the air, there’s a lot of human effort that goes into this, and this decision seems to be a really narrow view of the situation,” said Jeff Rubin, an immigration attorney not involved in the case. “One simple man’s role in the pizza-making process was ignored here. This was a creative lawyer strategy, and the federal government should have listened.”

But while visas can be obtained by specialty cooks such as sushi chefs, Roy Watson, another immigration attorney not involved in the case, said Spirou’s pizza bid needed a few more toppings.

“There was a very small likelihood of success in this case, given the standards the federal government uses in these situations,” Watson said.

“The law requires you to look at any U.S. worker who is even minimally qualified to do the job. That’s not flipping pizzas. This wasn’t a winnable case.”