dismissedJUN062024_05B52032024-06-06 · 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, a dental surgeon and prosthodontist, intended to work in the U.S. providing prosthodontic care, dental surgeries, and implants, offering expertise including CAD/CAM prosthetic technology to patients in Florida and the broader dental market.
Field: dentistry (prosthodontics/dental surgery) · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Petitioner was found to qualify as an advanced degree professional; this was not disputed.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“the Director pointed out that the Petitioner's specific endeavor, rather than the field or profession, is the focus when evaluating national importance”
“the Director determined that the endeavor would not result in broad implications to impact the field or have significant potential to employ U.S. workers”
“the expert opinion but determined that it merely reiterated the Petitioner's claims about a shortage in dental professionals and the need to reach underserved population with dental health issues”
“the Petitioner still has not provided independent and corroborating evidence to support his generalized claims of the endeavor's broad impact on the field or substantial economic effects”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- recommendation letter · discounted
“merely reiterated the Petitioner's claims about a shortage in dental professionals... did not meaningfully discuss the specifics of the Petitioner's proposed endeavor”
AAO decision text - other · discounted
“the record does not sufficiently demonstrate that his knowledge of such technology rises to the level of national importance”
AAO decision text - motion resubmission · discounted
“the Petitioner does not provide any new evidence or arguments to overcome deficiencies noted by the Director”
AAO decision text
Where this case turned
- Economic claims unsupported · p1 — job/revenue projections with no corroborating basis
- Endeavor too vague · p1 — described as a job role, not a defined undertaking
- Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
- Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar
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Notable
The AAO expressly 'adopted and affirmed' the Director's national importance analysis, citing Burbano/Giday/Chen precedent for that practice, rather than independently reanalyzing prong 1 in detail.
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
- Chen v. INS
- Flores v. Garland
- INA 203(b)(2)
- Matter of L-A-C-
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