The Petitioner, a nurse with over 20 years of experience including 13 years supervising geriatric care teams, proposed to provide geriatric nursing care to hospitals, clinics, and retirement communities, including fall prevention, chronic disease management, multilingual patient services, and educating other healthcare professionals.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“merely working in the healthcare field as a nurse is insufficient to establish the national importance of the proposed endeavor”

“it does not render a proposed endeavor nationally important under Dhanasar's framework, as it does not in itself establish the proposed endeavor's impact in the field”

“the Petitioner has not offered sufficient information and evidence based on these recommendation letters to demonstrate her claims of providing broader impact”

“the opinion focuses on the need for nurses ... instead of the Petitioner's specific endeavor having a prospective impact in the field of nursing”

“the Petitioner has not demonstrated that her proposed endeavor has the potential to extend beyond her prospective employers and her future patients”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

• recommendation letter · discounted

  “the Petitioner has not offered sufficient information and evidence based on these recommendation letters to demonstrate her claims of providing broader impact”

  AAO decision text
• business plan · discounted

  “the industry reports and articles and other evidence submitted do not discuss how the Petitioner working as a nurse for a healthcare facility will address or overcome the shortage”

  AAO decision text
• other · discounted

  “stating that the Petitioner's work would support an important industry with a shortage of qualified professionals is not sufficient to meet the 'national importance' requirement”

  AAO decision text
• degree · credited
• resume experience · discounted

  “the record does not demonstrate that the Petitioner's proposed work of educating other healthcare professionals has the potential to substantially benefit the healthcare field”

  AAO decision text

Where this case turned

• Field importance conflated with endeavor · p1 — argues the field matters, not the specific endeavor
• Letters conclusory · p1 — letters praise skills in general terms without tracing specific impact
• Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
• Occupational shortage argument rejected · p1 — argues a labor shortage — the labor-certification question, not Dhanasar

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
• Matter of Caron Int'l
• Matter of D-R-
• Matter of E-M-
• Matter of L-A-C-
• USCIS Policy Manual F.5(D)(1)

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