NIW Bearings
dismissedJAN142020_02B52032020-01-14 · appeal · Nebraska 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 special education teacher, sought to continue working as a special education coordinator/teacher at a specific Arizona school, serving students with disabilities, delinquencies, and other special needs.

Field: special education · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

Found to qualify as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree based on her Master of Education degree.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the Petitioner's evidence is insufficient to show that her proposed work has broader implications for her field, as opposed to being limited to the students at the school where she intends to teach”
“this reported shortage does not render the work of an individual teacher nationally important under the Dhanasar framework”
“she has not demonstrated that her undertaking has any implications beyond her particular school's dropout rate”
“the relevant question is not the importance of the field or profession in which the individual will work; instead we focus on the "the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake."”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • media · discounted
    “this reported shortage does not render the work of an individual teacher nationally important under the Dhanasar framework”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “she has not demonstrated that her undertaking has any implications beyond her particular school's dropout rate”
    AAO decision text
  • degree · credited

Where this case turned

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

The AAO explicitly rejected a nationwide/state teacher-shortage argument, noting in a footnote that shortages are addressed through the labor certification process itself, so a shortage alone cannot justify waiving that requirement.

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.

  • Poursina v. USCIS

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