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 teacher, proposed a 'STEM Sanctuary Garden' project as part of her national interest waiver petition.
Field: STEM education / teaching · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director found Petitioner eligible for EB-2 classification as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree; not at issue here.
How the evidence was treated
- business plan · ignored
“a petitioner must establish eligibility at the time of filing”
AAO decision text - motion resubmission · ignored
“the regulations make no provision for filing a motion to reopen or reconsider a rejected appeal”
AAO decision text
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Notable
This decision does not reach the merits of the NIW petition at all. It is a purely procedural dismissal: the AAO held it lacks jurisdiction to entertain a motion to reopen/reconsider directed at a prior decision that itself rejected (rather than decided on the merits) an appeal of a fourth motion decision. The Petitioner attempted to submit updated project plan evidence and post-filing documentation, which the AAO refused to consider both because eligibility must be shown as of filing and because there was no valid underlying decision to reopen or reconsider.
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. 103.2(b)(1)
- 8 C.F.R. 103.5
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