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 decision does not reach the proposed endeavor; the Petitioner sought an EB-2 national interest waiver but the case was decided solely on failure to establish the underlying advanced-degree classification.
Field: tourism and hospitality management · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — not met
Petitioner's foreign three-year Brazilian bachelor's degree in Tourism was not established as equivalent to a U.S. baccalaureate degree; the sole academic evaluation in the record contradicted its own conclusion, so it was given minimal probative value, leaving no basis for the combination of education-plus-experience advanced degree pathway. Petitioner did not claim exceptional ability in the alternative.
How the evidence was treated
- degree · discounted
“the academic evaluation bears minimal probative value”
AAO decision text
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Notable
The AAO dismissed the appeal solely on the threshold EB-2 advanced-degree issue (degree equivalency), expressly declining to reach the Dhanasar NIW prongs, citing Bagamasbad and Matter of L-A-C- for the proposition that agencies need not address unnecessary alternative issues. The academic credential evaluation was found internally self-contradictory (opining equivalence to a full U.S. bachelor's degree while its own cited source, AACRAO EDGE, indicated only three years of undergraduate-level equivalency for the three-year Brazilian degree).
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. 103.3
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(2)
- Matter of Caron Int'l
- Matter of L-A-C-
- Matter of V-K-
Cases in adjacent profiles
- The Petitioner, an aircraft mechanic and instructor, proposed to enhance aviation maintenance training programs, support
- The Petitioner seeks EB-2 classification as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree with a national inter
- The petitioner sought an EB-2 national interest waiver of the job offer requirement, but the substance of the proposed e
- The Beneficiary, sponsored by a private airline, sought EB-2 classification as an individual of exceptional ability in a
- The petitioner sought an EB-2 national interest waiver as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree; the sp