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 sought to establish a business providing solar energy solutions to residential and commercial sectors in the United States.
Field: solar energy / renewable energy business · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
SCOPS found the Petitioner's business degree and renewable-energy work experience unrelated to his proposed solar energy endeavor, but AAO found this unexplained and erroneous; SCOPS also improperly conflated exceptional ability criteria with the advanced degree professional claim actually asserted.
How the evidence was treated
- degree · credited
- resume experience · credited
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Notable
This decision is procedural rather than substantive on the NIW prongs: SCOPS's denial was withdrawn because it failed to adequately explain why the Petitioner's business degree and 12 years of renewable-energy work experience were unrelated to his proposed endeavor, improperly imported exceptional-ability criteria into an advanced-degree-professional claim the Petitioner never made, and only addressed five of six exceptional ability criteria without explaining the basis for three of those findings. AAO remanded for a properly reasoned decision rather than reaching prongs 1-3 of the national interest waiver analysis.
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. 204.5(k)(2)
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(3)(ii)
- 8 C.F.R. 204.5(k)(3)(iii)
- USCIS Policy Manual F.5(B)(2)
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
SCOPS failed to adequately explain why petitioner's business degree and 12 years' renewable-energy experience were unrelated to the proposed solar-business endeavor, and did not properly analyze all six exceptional-ability criteria, warranting remand.
Adjudicators must fully articulate criterion-by-criterion reasoning tied to the correct EB-2 classification claimed; petitioners should clearly specify which classification (advanced degree vs. exceptional ability) they are pursuing to avoid conflation.
moderate
person_focused
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