NIW Bearings
dismissedDEC022024_06B52032024-12-02 · combined · Texas 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, a personal financial advisor with 29 years of experience, proposed to establish an independent investment/financial consulting business in the U.S., leveraging her knowledge of the Brazilian business environment to advise companies.

Field: personal financial advisory / investment consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

On motion the Petitioner submitted a contract, foreign employment letter, and Florida license to argue she holds an advanced degree and over five years of progressive experience, but the AAO did not adjudicate this issue since the underlying dismissal rested on national importance under prong one, which remained dispositive.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the national importance of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor must stand separate and apart from her education, skills, and job experience”
“the issue is not the national importance of the field, industry, or profession in which she will work; but the "the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake."”
“The Petitioner does not indicate in what specific economically distressed areas her proposed company would create significant job growth nor does she indicate with specificity, or establish with supporting documentation, how her proposed endeavor would enhance the global competitiveness of U.S. companies.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • recommendation letter · discounted
    “the national importance of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor must stand separate and apart from her education, skills, and job experience”
    AAO decision text
  • business plan · discounted
    “does not specifically articulate how these projections would have substantial positive economic effects on a national level”
    AAO decision text
  • resume experience · discounted
    “related to the second prong of the Dhanasar framework, not the first prong, focusing on the national importance of her proposed endeavor”
    AAO decision text
  • certification membership · discounted
    “does not address the issue of the national importance of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor”
    AAO decision text
  • contract revenue · discounted
    “leaves substantial question as to whether her proposed endeavor would be carried out as claimed and have a substantial positive economic impact on a national level”
    AAO decision text
All 6 evidence items
  • motion resubmission · discounted
    “merely reargue facts and issues we have already considered on appeal”
    AAO decision text

Where this case turned

  • Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
  • 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
2,501coded 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

The Petitioner's new evidence on motion included a contract to work as a district agent for a U.S. insurance company, which the AAO found raised doubt about whether the originally proposed consulting endeavor would actually be carried out as claimed.

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. 103.5(a)(1)(i)
  • 8 C.F.R. 103.5(a)(1)(ii)
  • 8 C.F.R. 103.5(a)(2)
  • 8 C.F.R. 103.5(a)(3)
  • Matter of Coelho
  • Matter of L-A-C-
  • Matter of O-S-G-

What this case teaches

Analyst reading of the decision text.

Decisive factor

Petitioner repeatedly conflated field/profession importance and personal credentials with endeavor-specific national impact, and never quantified or documented how the endeavor's scale reached national significance; new evidence (insurance agent job) didn't address this gap at all.

Transferable lesson

On motion, submit new, endeavor-specific evidence quantifying national-scale impact (e.g., named regions, verified economic data) rather than repeating credentials or generic industry-importance arguments.

Endeavor framing

vague

National-importance theory

economic_job_creation · economic_growth_generic · us_competitiveness

Evidence targeting

person_focused

Cases in adjacent profiles

← Back to the case explorer