NIW Bearings
dismissedAPR222025_04B52032025-04-22 · appeal

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.

Petitioner initially proposed working as a product development manager creating low-interest credit card products for debt management, then later focused solely on deploying an indoor navigation technology he developed, without reconciling the two proposals.

Field: financial products / indoor navigation technology · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

The Dhanasar framework cannot be applied to two dueling proposed endeavors.
The absence of a clearly defined proposed endeavor prevents us from meaningfully assessing the endeavor's significance under the Dhanasar framework.
Here, it is unclear what endeavor the Petitioner proposes to undertake in the United States.
we cannot even analyze it under the Dhanasar framework, let alone determine whether it has substantial merit and national importance

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • media · ignored
  • other · ignored

Where this case turned

  • Endeavor too vague · p1described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
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Notable

AAO dismissed on the unusual ground that the Petitioner presented two irreconcilable 'dueling' proposed endeavors (financial product development vs. indoor navigation technology) and abandoned his original endeavor after the RFE, making it impossible to assess national importance under prong one; prongs two and three were not reached.

Authorities this decision leans on

From the doctrinal survivor set — 187 authority tests across 47 distinct authorities cleared the differential-lift gates. Only those appear here.

  • 8 C.F.R. 103.2(b)(12)
  • 8 C.F.R. 103.3
  • INA 203(b)(2)
  • Matter of Katigbak
  • Matter of L-A-C-

Cases in adjacent profiles