dismissedFEB272024_04B52032024-02-27 · 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, a financial manager, proposed to launch a training and consulting platform offering 'excellence models' to help companies, start-ups, and professionals improve financial management, profitability, and business practices.
Field: financial management consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director found, and AAO agreed, that the Petitioner qualifies as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“These employment and revenue projections, however, are not supported by details showing their basis or an explanation of how they will be realized”
“the record does not support that the direct creation of five jobs or the expected revenue generated by the company will have a substantial economic benefit commensurate with the national importance element”
“the relevant question is not the importance of the industry or profession in which the individual will work; instead, we focus on "the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake."”
“the articles and reports do not discuss any particulars of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor or its prospective impact rising to the level of national importance”
“There is insufficient information in the record to establish that the Petitioner's endeavor implicates these nationally important areas”
“the Petitioner has not established how providing his financial management consulting services stands to sufficiently extend beyond his clients to impact the field more broadly”
“does not offer any persuasive detail concerning the Petitioner's proposed endeavor or how his endeavor's impact would extend beyond the companies that he will serve”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · discounted
“are not supported by details showing their basis or an explanation of how they will be realized”
AAO decision text - media · discounted
“the articles and reports do not discuss any particulars of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor or its prospective impact rising to the level of national importance”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“does not offer any persuasive detail concerning the Petitioner's proposed endeavor or how his endeavor's impact would extend beyond the companies that he will serve”
AAO decision text - resume experience · discounted
“the Petitioner's experience, however, is not relevant to the first part of the Dhanasar framework, but to the second”
AAO decision text - degree · credited
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
- Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
- 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
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Notable
AAO rejected the Petitioner's argument that working in a STEM-adjacent field (financial management) automatically supports national importance, clarifying that STEM-specific evidentiary considerations apply only to critical and emerging technologies. The AAO declined to reach prongs two and three because prong one was dispositive.
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 Caron Int'l
- Matter of L-A-C-
- Poursina v. USCIS
- USCIS Policy Manual F.5(D)(2)
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