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 Petitioner, an accountant, initially proposed to continue working as an accountant/financial specialist in the U.S., and later, in response to an RFE, described starting her own financial and accounting services consulting business in Florida serving small and medium-sized businesses.
Field: accounting and financial services · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — not met
AAO withdrew the Director's finding of advanced-degree eligibility, concluding the MBA course certificate was not shown to be an advanced degree above a bachelor's and the record did not establish five years of progressive post-baccalaureate experience. The AAO also found the Petitioner did not meet at least three of the six exceptional-ability criteria (license/certification, salary, membership, recognition).
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“I intend to continue performing my [a]ccountant services.”
“the [P]etitioner has not shown her proposed endeavor in this case stands to sufficiently extend beyond her proposed business and its clients”
“the record lacks evidence showing that creating six direct jobs and 121 indirect jobs...rises to the level of national importance”
“it does not document the potential prospective impact, including the asserted economic benefits to the United States”
“merely working in the financial analysis and accounting services fields or starting a financial and accounting services business is insufficient to establish the national importance”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- resume experience · discounted
“the record does not explain why the Petitioner did not submit letters from her previous employers”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“both letters do not detail the dates of her employment”
AAO decision text - certification membership · discounted
“does not support a finding that it is a license to practice the profession or a certification”
AAO decision text - business plan · discounted
“The record does not sufficiently detail the basis for its financial and staffing projections, or adequately explain how these projections will be realized”
AAO decision text - degree · discounted
“it did not provide an opinion about it. Therefore...we are unable to determine whether it is the U.S. equivalent of a degree above that of a bachelor's degree”
AAO decision text
All 6 evidence items
- other · discounted
“Where an opinion is not in accord with other information or is in any way questionable, USCIS is not required to accept it”
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
- Endeavor too vague · p1 — described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
- Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
Notable
The AAO withdrew the Director's favorable threshold-eligibility finding sua sponte, then also found the alternative exceptional-ability claim unmet, before dismissing on the dispositive Dhanasar prong-1 national importance ground, stating each basis was an independent and alternate ground for dismissal.
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.
- Kazarian v. USCIS
- Matter of D-R-
- Matter of E-M-
- Matter of L-A-C-
- Poursina v. USCIS
- Visinscaia v. Beers
Cases in adjacent profiles
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- The Petitioner proposed to establish and lead as CEO a cybersecurity and crisis management company in Florida, offering
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