NIW Bearings
dismissedFEB152024_07B52032024-02-15 · 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 open and operate a financial management consulting, advisory, and training company in Florida, offering services in financial planning, control, reporting, risk assessment, and auditing.

Field: financial management consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

the relevant question is not the value of small businesses, financial management services, immigrant entrepreneurship, or the Petitioner's general occupation
The letter from J-W-B- does not contain sufficient information and explanation, nor does the record include adequate corroborating evidence
these projections are not supported by details showing their basis or an explanation of how they will be achieved
It is insufficient to claim an endeavor has national importance or would create a broad impact without providing evidence to substantiate such claims
she has not demonstrated that her company's future staffing levels and business activity stand to provide substantial economic benefits in Florida or the United States

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    these projections are not supported by details showing their basis or an explanation of how they will be achieved
    AAO decision text
  • recommendation letter · discounted
    relate to the second prong of the Dhanasar framework, which "shifts the focus from the proposed endeavor to the foreign national"
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    the relevant question is not the value of small businesses, financial management services, immigrant entrepreneurship, or the Petitioner's general occupation
    AAO decision text

Where this case turned

  • Business plan speculative · p1projections without a documented basis or steps
  • Economic claims unsupported · p1job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
  • Endeavor too vague · p1described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
  • Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
1,312coded 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 explicitly declined to reach the third prong as unnecessary given the dispositive failure on prong one, citing Bagamasbad and Matter of L-A-C- for the proposition that agencies need not decide unnecessary issues.

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.

  • Flores v. Garland
  • INA 203(b)(2)
  • Matter of L-A-C-

Cases in adjacent profiles