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 proposed to work as a Sustainability and Business Intelligence Consultant, aiming to help U.S. companies with sustainability initiatives, reduce carbon emissions, and promote economic growth using data analysis and agile methodologies.
Field: sustainability and business intelligence consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
AAO reserved the exceptional-ability classification issue, deciding the case on the NIW prong instead.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“the record does not establish the Petitioner's proposed endeavor would have broad enough impact sufficient to rise to the level of national importance”
“the record does not include any forecasts regarding job creation, revenue and wages”
“General assertions of economic impact are not sufficient to establish the actual potential economic impact of the proposed endeavor”
“the record does not include adequate corroborating evidence to show what the Petitioner's proposed work entails and how that endeavor offers broader implications”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- other · discounted
“it is insufficient to claim an endeavor has national importance or will create a broad impact without providing evidence to corroborate such claims”
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
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
Notable
Petitioner alleged the Director's denial was influenced by racial prejudice; AAO rejected this as unsupported. AAO also found the petitioner had impermissibly changed his proposed endeavor mid-petition (from Business Intelligence/Sustainability Consultant to Agile Consultant/Technology Project Manager) under Matter of Izummi, and declined to consider the amended endeavor.
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
- Flores v. Garland
- INA 203(b)(2)
- Matter of Izummi
- Matter of Katigbak
Cases in adjacent profiles
- The Petitioner proposed to work as an IT consultant in the United States, providing cybersecurity and digital transforma
- The petitioner proposed to establish his own company providing specialized business consultancy, auditing, and training
- The petitioner proposed to work as a consultant engineer through his own company, specializing in development projects t
- The Petitioner proposed to start a project management consultancy in the United States that would help small and mid-siz
- The Petitioner proposed to establish a legal consultancy in the United States focused on alternative dispute resolution