NIW Bearings
dismissedJUN272024_04B52032024-06-27 · 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 sought to open her own business consulting company providing consulting services to Latin American women entrepreneurs in the U.S., focusing on sustainability and environmentally friendly practices.

Field: strategic management / business consulting · Read the decision (uscis.gov)

EB-2 threshold — addressed

Director and AAO agreed she qualifies as an advanced degree professional based on her master's degree equivalency.

Prong 1 — national importancenot established · dispositive

“the relevant question is not the importance of the field, industry, or profession in which the individual will work; instead, we focus on, "the specific endeavor that the foreign national proposes to undertake."”
“the Petitioner improperly relies upon the importance of the industry to establish the national importance of her proposed endeavor.”
“showing the impact small and medium sized businesses have on job creation and the economy does not directly show how her specific proposed endeavor will significantly impact job creation or the economy.”
“the record does not establish that her proposed endeavor will impact the industry more broadly or have substantial positive economic effects, particularly in an economically depressed area to impact more than her prospective clients.”
“we agree that the record does not establish the scale of her work would rise to the level of national importance or that there are any advances or improvements in the field attributable to the Petitioner.”

AAO decision text

How the evidence was treated

  • other · discounted
    “the provided documents provide useful background information, they are of limited value in this matter, as none of them address the petitioner's proposed 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
  • Local, not national scope · p1 — impact confined to clients / a region
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Notable

AAO cites Flores v. Garland (5th Cir. 2023) as a footnote supporting the discretionary nature of NIW denials, an unusual circuit-court citation for a non-precedent decision. The decision also expressly declines to reach prongs 2 and 3, resting entirely on the national importance sub-element of prong 1.

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 E-M-
  • Matter of L-A-C-

What this case teaches

Analyst reading of the decision text.

Decisive factor

Petitioner relied on general industry/government interest in her field rather than evidence showing her specific endeavor's prospective impact or scale beyond her own clients.

Transferable lesson

Tie evidence directly to the specific proposed endeavor's projected scale and broader impact, not just the importance of the general industry or field.

Endeavor framing

vague

National-importance theory

economic_job_creation · government_interest · economic_growth_generic

Evidence targeting

person_focused

Cases in adjacent profiles

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