NIW Bearings
dismissedAUG232021_02B52032021-08-23 · appeal · Nebraska 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 Petitioner sought to work as a language teacher in a U.S. public school, providing English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction and teaching Portuguese to help students, including recent immigrants, overcome language barriers.

Field: ESL/bilingual education (language teaching) · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the Petitioner's evidence is insufficient to show that her proposed work has broader implications for her field, as opposed to being limited to the students at the school where she intends to teach.”
“this reported shortage does not render the work of an individual teacher nationally important under the Dhanasar framework.”
“a shortage alone does not demonstrate that waiving the requirement of a labor certification would benefit the United States.”
“the record does not demonstrate that the Petitioner's proposed teaching activities offer benefits that extend beyond her particular school to impact the field of education more broadly.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “relates to the Petitioner's past work as a professor and teacher in Brazil and does not explain how her proposed work...involves undertaking research”
    AAO decision text
  • resume experience · discounted
    “relate to the second prong of the Dhanasar framework...not the issue here”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “this reported shortage does not render the work of an individual teacher nationally important under the Dhanasar framework”
    AAO decision text

Where this case turned

  • 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
  • Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar
2,179coded decisions carry the failure named in this record. A placement shows where your profile sits among them, not what it predicts.See where your profile sits — 90 seconds →

Notable

AAO expressly declines to reach prongs 2 and 3 after finding prong 1 dispositive, and frames the dismissal as resting on an 'independent and alternate' basis despite only analyzing one prong.

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. 204.5(k)(2)
  • INA 203(b)(2)
  • Poursina v. USCIS

Cases in adjacent profiles

← Back to the case explorer