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 experienced speech-language pathologist, proposed to provide speech, language, hearing, and feeding therapy services to the Hispanic-Latino population in New Jersey, later expanding to New York and Pennsylvania, while also training other healthcare professionals.
Field: speech-language pathology · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
Director found degree/experience evidence insufficient, but AAO found on appeal that a WES evaluation plus employer letters established five years of progressive post-degree experience equivalent to an advanced degree, vacating the Director's finding on this issue.
Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive
“she has not sufficiently explained how she will educate the population and how many individuals will receive this education”
“the Petitioner did not demonstrate the broader implications of her endeavor, or that her work would impact her field, as opposed to just her personal patients”
“a shortage of healthcare workers is insufficient, by itself, to establish the national importance of her endeavor”
“the record does not establish with probative information the types of jobs her endeavor may create, the number of workers her endeavor may cause to be employed”
AAO decision text
How the evidence was treated
- degree · credited
- resume experience · credited
- business plan · discounted
“the record does not establish with probative information the types of jobs her endeavor may create”
AAO decision text - recommendation letter · discounted
- other · discounted
“a shortage of healthcare workers is insufficient, by itself, to establish the national importance of her endeavor”
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
Notable
AAO vacated the Director's threshold EB-2 finding on appeal (credited a WES evaluation and employer letters submitted for the first time on appeal) but still dismissed on prong 1 national importance grounds, reserving prongs 2 and 3.
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
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(2)
- Flores v. Garland
- Matter of L-A-C-
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