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 ballet instructor who runs her own ballet studio, sought to continue working as a ballet teacher in the United States and requested a national interest waiver of the job offer requirement.
Field: ballet instruction / dance · Read the decision (uscis.gov)
EB-2 threshold — addressed
The Director denied the petition on national-interest grounds without first determining whether the Petitioner qualified as an individual of exceptional ability. AAO identifies unresolved issues concerning whether the Petitioner has ten years of full-time experience in the occupation of ballet instructor and whether her professional-association membership evidence is sufficient, and remands for the Director to make this threshold determination in the first instance.
How the evidence was treated
- resume experience · discounted
“The Petitioner must resolve the above inconsistencies with independent, objective evidence pointing to where the truth lies.”
AAO decision text - certification membership · discounted
“without any supporting evidence, such as the membership requirements, is sufficient to establish that it is a professional organization”
AAO decision text - business plan · discounted
“which appears to contradict the information provided in the 2017 class schedule”
AAO decision text
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Notable
Unusual procedural posture: rather than reaching the Dhanasar prongs on which the Director denied, AAO withdraws the denial and remands solely because the Director skipped the threshold EB-2 exceptional-ability determination. Footnote 4 raises, without deciding, whether 'ballet instructor' qualifies as a profession under 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(k)(2)/INA 101(a)(32). AAO also flags credibility inconsistencies in experience letters under Matter of Ho and questions the sufficiency of a foreign professional-association membership card.
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)
- INA 203(b)(2)
- Matter of Ho
- Poursina v. USCIS
What this case teaches
Analyst reading of the decision text.
The Director never made a threshold determination on EB-2 exceptional-ability eligibility (unresolved conflicting evidence on 10 years' full-time experience and professional membership), so AAO remanded before reaching NIW merits.
Resolve underlying EB-2 classification eligibility (e.g., experience, credentials) with consistent, corroborated evidence before NIW prongs will even be considered.
vague
person_focused
Cases in adjacent profiles
- The Petitioner, a musician and music educator, proposed to advance music education in the United States by opening a pia
- The petitioner, a tattoo artist, sought EB-2 classification as an individual of exceptional ability along with a nationa
- The Petitioner, an MMA athlete and trainer, proposed to operate a jiu jitsu company through which he would train and com
- The Petitioner sought to establish an arts education academy in Ohio, with plans to expand to New York and Michigan, off
- The Petitioner, an art curator, proposed to establish a nonprofit cultural center/platform focused on exhibitions, oral