dismissedJUL302024_13B52032024-07-30 · 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, an ophthalmologist, proposed to provide clinical care and perform refractive, cataract, and glaucoma surgeries using various advanced techniques, participate in clinical trials, and provide clinics/hospitals with strategic planning and IT management.
Field: ophthalmology · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director found, and AAO agreed, that Petitioner qualified for EB-2 classification as an advanced degree professional.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“The Petitioner does not specify, however, how his work would extend beyond the individual hospitals or clinics where he would work to financially impact the healthcare industry in a manner commensurate with national importance.”
“The Petitioner has not demonstrated how his treatment of individual patients would impact ophthalmology or the eyecare industry more broadly.”
“N-N- does not explain how the Petitioner's treatment of individual patients would impact public health in a manner commensurate with national importance.”
“N-N- summarizes the Petitioner's extensive experience and skills but does not specify how the Petitioner's proposed endeavor would extend beyond his work with individual patients, hospitals, clinics and laboratories to impact his field more broadly”
“Our assessment of national importance does not focus on the importance of issues affecting a field in general, rather it "focuses on the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake."”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- recommendation letter · discounted
“does not specify how the Petitioner's proposed endeavor would extend beyond his work with individual patients... to impact his field more broadly”
AAO decision text - citations publications · discounted
“he did not submit evidence that his publications have been cited by or otherwise influenced other professionals in his field”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“the article states that Micro Phakonit was developed by another physician, A-A-, in India”
AAO decision text
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
- Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
- Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
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Notable
AAO explicitly declines to reach prongs two and three under Bagamasbad/L-A-C- reservation doctrine after finding prong one dispositive. Case involves a clinician (ophthalmologist) rather than the more typical researcher/entrepreneur profile.
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 L-A-C-
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