The petitioner, an airline pilot, proposed to continue working as a pilot in the United States while also training and mentoring new pilots.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the relevant question is not the importance of the industry or occupation where the Petitioner will work, but the specific impact of that proposed endeavor”

“The Petitioner has not specified how his employment as a pilot, in and of itself, would alleviate a nationwide shortage of such workers.”

“the Petitioner has not provided evidence establishing what economic effects would be attributable to his specific endeavor”

“working in an area with substantial merit does not mean that one's endeavor will have national importance”

“The record does not have a cognizable or detailed plan for reaching an audience wider than the individuals the Petitioner will purportedly directly train and mentor in the future.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• other · discounted

  “the record does not establish how the Petitioner's teaching would impact the U.S. pilot shortage on a level rising to national importance”

  AAO decision text
• resume experience · discounted

  “these factors relate to the second Dhanasar prong regarding whether the Petitioner is well-positioned to advance his endeavor”

  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
• Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar

Notable

AAO explicitly rejects reliance on pilot-shortage/occupational-importance arguments and clarifies that petitioner attributes (experience, dedication, skill) are not germane to prong 1 but instead relate to prong 2, which it declines to reach.

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
• Matter of E-M-
• Matter of L-A-C-

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