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 preschool and drama teacher, proposed to continue working in that role for her current employer, a daycare center in New Jersey.
Field: preschool and drama teaching · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — not met
Petitioner did not establish she had a foreign equivalent bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive experience (advanced degree professional), and the totality of evidence (academic background, CDA credential, certifications, language skills, memberships, letters, salary) did not show a degree of expertise significantly above that ordinarily encountered in teaching (exceptional ability). This threshold failure was dispositive, so the AAO declined to reach the NIW prongs.
How the evidence was treated
- degree · discounted
“A three-year degree is only equivalent to three years of university study in the United States.”
AAO decision text - resume experience · discounted
“The Petitioner only claimed to have four years of employment experience as a teacher.”
AAO decision text - certification membership · discounted
“does not demonstrate that the organizations have any membership requirements above those commonly found in teachers actively working in the field”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
“The letters do not specify which skill sets possessed by the Petitioner place her above other teachers.”
AAO decision text - motion resubmission · discounted
“we will not consider it for the first time on appeal”
AAO decision text
This record is one of thousands, each coded for the reasons it turned. A placement shows where your profile sits in that record, not what it predicts. See where your profile sits — 90 seconds →
Notable
The AAO found the Petitioner ineligible for both advanced-degree and exceptional-ability classifications at the threshold stage, and explicitly declined to reach any of the three Dhanasar national interest waiver prongs as unnecessary given the dispositive threshold failure. The AAO also rejected as untimely a new employer letter offered for the first time on appeal, applying Matter of Soriano's notice rule, and noted an inconsistency between the Petitioner's initial claim of four years' experience and her appellate claim of five years.
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. 204.5(k)(2)
- Flores v. Garland
- Matter of L-A-C-
- USCIS Policy Manual F.5(B)(2)
Cases in adjacent profiles
- The Petitioner, an assistant professor of Arabic, proposed to continue teaching Levantine-Modern Standard Arabic to U.S.
- The Petitioner, a secondary school teacher, proposed to develop and implement an open educational resource program to ex
- The Petitioner proposed to establish a consulting company in Missouri to design and implement a nationally adaptable tea
- The Petitioner, an arts, drama, and music teacher and entrepreneur, sought EB-2 classification as an individual of excep
- The petitioner, a mathematics teacher with 17 years of experience, proposed to operate a company offering online math tu