NIW Bearings
dismissedJUN012026_01B52032026-06-01 · appeal

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 establish a consulting and construction company focused on sanitation, working with civil engineering firms to identify problems and create solutions for wastewater management in the United States.

Field: civil engineering / occupational health and safety / wastewater management · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

USCIS and AAO both acknowledged the Petitioner qualifies as an advanced degree professional based on a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and at least five years of progressive experience in his specialty under 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(2).

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the record lacked evidence showing that the Petitioner's wastewater management solutions 'will be adopted on a broad scale beyond the individual projects his business may secure.'”
“the plan's projections and marketing strategies to be 'consistent with normal business development for a private engineering consultancy serving local and regional clients.'”
“Establishing that wastewater management is a critical concern for the U.S. government is not sufficient to establish that the proposed endeavor, which addresses that concern in a consulting capacity, is nationally important.”
“the Petitioner has not established that his plan to hire eight employees by his company's fifth year of operation would sufficiently impact employment levels to a degree that is commensurate with national importance.”
“the record lacks sufficient evidence establishing that the proposed endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. workers ... has other substantial positive economic effects, has national or even global implications within the field.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • business plan · discounted
    “consistent with normal business development for a private engineering consultancy serving local and regional clients”
    AAO decision text
  • other · discounted
    “he has not established that the prospective impact of his specific endeavor aims to achieve that goal with 'broader implications' within the wastewater management field on a scale that is consistent with national importance”
    AAO decision text
  • resume experience · credited
  • degree · credited

Where this case turned

  • Business plan speculative · p1 — projections without a documented basis or steps
  • 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
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Notable

The AAO explicitly agreed with the Petitioner that Dhanasar does not require novelty, but clarified that USCIS was merely noting the absence of novelty as one non-required indicator of national importance, not imposing a novel standard. The AAO also addressed and rejected the Petitioner's citation to a non-binding district court decision (Buletini v. INS), noting that district court decisions are not binding precedential authority. USCIS had already found substantial merit under prong 1 but denied on national importance; the AAO affirmed only on national importance and declined to reach prongs 2 and 3.

What this case teaches

Analyst reading of the decision text.

Decisive factor

Petitioner conflated national importance of the wastewater management field with his own consulting business, failing to show his specific endeavor's impact was nationally scaled beyond local clients/projects.

Transferable lesson

Distinguish field-level importance from your specific endeavor's projected scale; quantify how your particular business/project impact extends beyond local/regional clients to national significance.

Endeavor framing

moderate

National-importance theory

public_health · economic_job_creation · field_advancement · geographic_or_shortage_area

Evidence targeting

mixed

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