NIW Bearings
dismissedDEC272023_05B52032023-12-27 · appeal · 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 sought to establish and operate a consulting, advisory, and training business in Texas specializing in operations management, supply chain management, and project development for manufacturing and logistics companies, including online training courses.

Field: operations management / manufacturing and logistics consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

Director found Petitioner qualified as an advanced degree professional based on a bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive experience; not disputed on appeal.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the relevant question is not the importance of the industry, field, or profession in which an individual will work; instead, we focus on the "specific endeavor that the [noncitizen] proposes to undertake."”
“we note that there is lack of clarity and credibility in parts of the business plan.”
“the Petitioner has not established that the potential benefit to the economy from this business will be greater than that of other similar businesses”
“the Petitioner has not established that these teaching activities have the potential to impact the field of manufacturing and logistics education more broadly.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “there is lack of clarity and credibility in parts of the business plan”
    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
  • 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
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Notable

AAO relied on Dhanasar's own teaching-activities discussion to analogize the petitioner's proposed online training courses to STEM teaching that lacked national importance.

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 L-A-C-
  • Poursina v. USCIS

What this case teaches

Analyst reading of the decision text.

Decisive factor

Petitioner failed to show the consulting business's projected jobs/revenue/training impact exceeded that of any similar business, so scale did not rise to national importance despite assumed credibility.

Transferable lesson

Quantify and benchmark projected economic/educational impact against comparable businesses/programs to prove distinctive national-scale significance, not just that ordinary economic activity occurs.

Endeavor framing

moderate

National-importance theory

economic_job_creation · economic_growth_generic · field_advancement

Evidence targeting

person_focused

Cases in adjacent profiles

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