NIW Bearings
dismissedAPR012026_02B52032026-04-01 · appeal · SCOPS Service Center

This is an AAO appeal decision — a case denied once and appealed. It shows how the framework is applied; it is not the filing population.

The Beneficiary proposed to establish an asset investment management and compliance advisory firm in New York offering compliance, risk management, cryptocurrency, cross-border investment structuring, and ESG services to U.S. small and medium-sized businesses and fintech startups, with a focus on facilitating capital flows between the United States and China.

Field: financial compliance and investment advisory · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the documents in the record do not adequately detail how the consulting firm will have a broader impact on the field beyond the company and individual clients it will serve.”
“the Petitioner has not offered sufficient, specific evidence establishing the alleged economic impact directly attributable to the Beneficiary's future work.”
“he has not explained in detail how these forecasts were calculated or how its projections will be realized.”
“the Petitioner did not demonstrate the relevance of these numbers and show that such future staffing levels would provide substantial economic benefits”
“the Petitioner has not adequately explained, and the record does not show, how these activities would sufficiently extend beyond the individuals attending these events”
“these claims linking the Beneficiary's proposed endeavor to these impacts are too attenuated and lack sufficient corroborating evidence”
“General conclusory statements without a sufficiently direct evidentiary tie between the proposed endeavor and the claimed impacts are insufficient.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “he has not explained in detail how these forecasts were calculated or how its projections will be realized. He also has not offered supporting evidence corroborating the assertions and figures in the plan.”
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “the authors laud the Beneficiary's skills, personal attributes, and past accomplishments, these are factors which relate more to the second prong.”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “the evidence submitted, including the Petitioner's career plan, support letters, and industry articles, is not sufficient to demonstrate that the proposed endeavor's prospective impact rises to the level of national importance.”
    AAO decision text

Where this case turned

  • Business plan speculative · p1 — projections without a documented basis or steps
  • Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
  • Employer-specific benefit · p1 — "work furthers my company's product" — value accrues to one firm
  • Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
  • Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
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Notable

The AAO partially sustained the appeal by withdrawing SCOPS' finding that the endeavor lacked substantial merit, crediting that element, but still dismissed on national importance grounds under prong 1. The EB-2 threshold issue was also reserved rather than decided. The petitioner's argument that 'the economy is inherently of substantial merit and national significance as it is the foundation of almost everything else' was explicitly rejected as too attenuated.

What this case teaches

Analyst reading of the decision text.

Decisive factor

Petitioner failed to show the endeavor's impact would extend beyond the firm's own clients/employees to a level of national importance; projections were uncorroborated and unexplained in significance.

Transferable lesson

Quantify and corroborate projected economic/job impact with methodology and comparative benchmarks showing it is nationally, not just locally, significant.

Endeavor framing

moderate

National-importance theory

economic_job_creation · economic_growth_generic · us_competitiveness

Evidence targeting

person_focused

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